


Honeymaren: Sorcerer Supreme

by HopeWielder



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Frozen (Disney Movies), Frozen - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Disney, ElsaxHoneymaren - Freeform, F/F, Girls Love, LGBT, Marvel - Freeform, Romance, Yuri, elsamaren, frozen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 62,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeWielder/pseuds/HopeWielder
Summary: On a quiet night a Northuldra exploration group was camping next to Arendelle's ice harvesters when a large orange crack appeared sparkling over the vast frozen space, drawing everyone's attention. Suddenly multiple black arms, enormous and elongated like those of a squid, burst through the crack, enlarging it to make way for a large dark cloud and taking every living thing they could find, taking them into the darkness and violently destroying the camp in search for more. Those who managed to escape ran to their people, hoping to warn them of the coming evil.“Ah!”“What's wrong?!” Asked Elsa, awakened by the scream of her girlfriend.“It's nothing... just a bad dream... sorry, let's go back to sleep." Said Honeymaren, gesturing for Elsa to cuddle on her chest once more.“Alright...” Said Elsa dubiously, but following her beloved's wish.“Just a bad dream." Whispered Honeymaren, trying to convince herself that nothing bad was happening out there.----A story in an alternate universe in which the Disney and Marvel universes intersect and which is part of my previous fic.: Frozen - A Magical Night at the Enchanted Forest.
Relationships: Elsa/Honeymaren (Disney)
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Honeymaren: Hechicera Suprema](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098099) by [HopeWielder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeWielder/pseuds/HopeWielder). 



> I did my best to translate my story so that more people could read it. English isn't my first language but i'm making an effort to get better and learn more. Thanks for reading!

That night Honeymaren woke up feeling anxious again, at the same time than before, when the moonlight entered through the window of her room at the house she and Elsa built in their small, private place in the enchanted forest, covering in its soft gleam the bed where the young couple slept.

“What happened?” Asked Elsa when she woke up, a little bit scared by the abrupt movement her loved one did.

“I’m sorry sweetie, I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Don’t worry about it, what happened?” Asked Elsa, removing some hair strands from Honeymaren’s forehead.

“I don’t know,” said the Northuldra girl, taking her partner’s hand and putting it against her cheek. “I had some kind of dream, it felt so real, there were… spirits, evil spirits, they surrounded me and I didn’t know what to do, I just hid,” she added nervously.

“Your dreams with spirits are becoming recurring…” Said Elsa, thoughtful, wondering what could be the cause behind those dreams that started to seem like more than a mere coincidence. The spirit world was still largely unknown to her, but in her little interactions with spiritual beings she had realized their power wasn’t something that should be taken lightly.

“I think it’s time to talk with Yelana about this.” Said Honeymaren, who had been trying to avoid taking the matter to the Northuldra Leader, hoping they were just nightmares. 

“I think it’s for the best, tomorrow morning we can go to the camp, for now just try to rest a little, I’m here for you, I would never let anything happen to you.” Said Elsa, while she snuggled closer to Honeymaren, trying to calm her with the comfort only the heat of her body could give her.

“Thank you, those words mean everything to me." Said Honeymaren, turning her body slightly to plant a quick kiss on her girlfriend's lips. Elsa smiled and then curled up on Honeymaren's chest, the dark-haired girl surrounded her with her arms and minutes later she managed to fall asleep again.

The following morning both girls got up early, had something light for breakfast and started the trip to the Northuldra camp. Every walk that the young couple had alone through the forest was usually special, sometimes it was romantic, others entertaining and others they simply enjoyed in silence the company of their loved one, a kind and comfortable silence, in which both were privately thinking how happy they were for finding each other; they scarcely had a few months living under the same roof, but both were already wishing to share the rest of their lives together.

“Wait.” Honeymaren said abruptly, suddenly interrupting the enjoyable vibe their walk had while they were walking through a dense part of the forest where the treetops obstructed the majority of the light, preventing it from touching the ground.

“What is it?” Elsa asked, stopping like her partner.

“I felt something again, something bad, a negative energy as in my sleep, only that now I am not sleeping.” Honeymaren said, disconcerted, walking around to inspect her surroundings.

When she listened those words a chill ran through Elsa's back, making her feel nervous, it was like a foreign, uncomfortable, unknown kind of cold. Honeymaren began to walk instinctively around the area where they stopped, as if something was calling her; Elsa began to do the same, as if both knew that something was observing them from the shadows.

“Honey, I think I found something.” Elsa said when she suddenly felt more of the foreign coldness in her soles.

Honeymaren approached her, standing at her side and observing the forest in front of them; there was something in that direction, something foreign to the forest, both of them could feel that, but, should they approach it? Should they look for help? Both were wondering what the least dangerous course of action would be.

“Honey… I can feel it in the ground,” Elsa said giving a pair of steps forward, feeling the changes in the coldness under her feet. “There is something there, something with a strong magical presence that grows slowly but constantly.”

“Elsa, I feel that it would be dangerous to approach it… we should go for Yelana, she will know that to do.” Honeymaren said, taking Elsa by the arm and pulling gently, like trying to stop her from paying attention to the strange phenomenon they had in front of them.

“I think you’re right, we should go, there’s no time to lose.” Elsa said, turning around to continue towards the camp.

Honeymaren felt relieved when she saw that Elsa shook off the calling from that mysterious presence… but her relief wouldn't last. The young couple had advanced barely some meters when an unexpected called stopped them.

“Elsa! Elsa are you there?! Elsa!”

Honeymaren, holding hands with the girl whose name they were shouting felt how a strong anxiety spark electrified the body of the Snow Queen when she listened to that voice; the voice of her sister, Anna.

Elsa answered nervously to Anna's voice, quickly releasing the hand of Honeymaren and running towards the place where they had just agreed not to approach.

“Elsa no!” Said Honeymaren while she, having reached her partner, hugged her hard from behind, containing her while she struggled to free herself.

“Let me go! Anna sounded worried, she needs me!” The girl said while she struggled to release herself from Honeymaren’s hug.

“Please, please listen to me! That isn't your sister” a worried Honeymaren said. 

“Elsa! Elsa where are you?! Come soon! Time is running out!” The voice shouted, sounding even more desperate than earlier.

After listening that Elsa felt a lot of anxiety accumulating in her body, stomped Honeymaren’s foot and used the small distraction to escloak her grasp and continue towards the place from which the voice seemed to come.

“Elsa, listen to me!” Honeymaren said rubbing her toes over her boot a few seconds to relieve the pain before running again behind Elsa, but the girl from Arendelle wasn't listening; for the advantage of the young Northuldra the girl of Royal ancestry never had to train too much in physically demanding activities, for which, having trained in the forest since her childhood, she was clearly more capable. 

“Anna where are you? I’m here, speak to me!” Elsa shouted, stopping at a considerable distance inside the forest, where everything was strangely darker the more they advanced.

“Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted, stopping in front of the anxious blonde girl who was looking all over the place trying to decipher from where the voice of her sister came. “Elsa come with me, please! This is a trick, it must be.” The Northuldra girl was saying, trying to meet her eyes with those of the young Queen without success, since in her anxiety she was only trying to see behind her. 

Suddenly, between the shrubs they had in front of them a sound came, something was moving, and suddenly Anna's figure, with a tired look and dirty and battered clothes appeared in front of them.

“Anna!” Elsa shouted, quickly going around Honeymaren and running towards her sister when behind her a big shade with the shape of an arm of an octopus or squid appeared and surrounded Arendelle’s Queen, taking her back to the darkness with it, in the middle of screams and struggle.

“Anna, no!” Elsa shouted while she ran after her sister when Honeymaren appeared in front of her again, blocking her way.

“No! I’m not going to let you to go there! Your eyes deceive you, trust me!” Honeymaren said. Elsa looked directly at her eyes and for a split second the Northuldra girl felt that she had managed to make her understand.

“Elsa!” Another scream, with tints of pain and sobbing was heard in the distance; after that Honeymaren knew what would happen looking at the worried gaze her beloved had. Almost instantly Elsa reunited her strength and pushed Honeymaren, and once she was in the floor created an ice shackle around her ankle, connected to a big block of ice so that the girl would remain in place after she went for her sister.

The Northuldra girl didn’t lose a second and taking a knife she was keeping in her boot she gave the ice chain multiple blows until it broke, and once free she began to run again, going after the Snow Queen; she was faster, but Elsa had begun to leave frozen spots as she ran, preventing her from getting close enough to stop her.

“No! No! I can’t lose her! All this is my fault for bringing her here!” Honeymaren was saying to herself while she thought that that evil spirit could capture the only girl who made her feel something special in all her life.

“Hope is the last thing you should lose child.” Said a feminine voice with a demeanor that irradiated calmness and wisdom and suddenly long bands of a brilliant crimson color and some material that Honeymaren had never seen materialized after Elsa, taking her by her ankles to make her fall down and later spreading over all her body, wrapping her from her feet to her lips with a technique worthy of the most skillful embalmer.

Honeymaren didn’t understand what happened, but seeing Elsa in the floor, struggling against the crimson bands that were paralyzing her, made her feel a certain relief, knowing that she could not advance to the point where there would be no comeback.

“They are called ‘The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak,’ they are a spell that allow to catch almost anything, especially effective against magic.” Said the female voice, to which seemingly Honeymaren alone was listening.

“Who are you? Why do you help me? And what was that thing?” Honeymaren asked to that mysterious voice to which she owed the safety of her girlfriend.

“Who I am and my motives you will know later; as for this malign presence, I suspect that you already know the answer,” the voice said, always maintaining calmness and composure. “Take your partner to your camp, her mind has been played with and it will continue under that dark power until she moves far enough from its evil influence, until you get away from this place, meanwhile the bands will contain her magic and will keep her suppressed until there aren’t any traces of this dark energy in her body, then they will release her.

“I... thank you.” Honeymaren said, understanding that that benign presence would not answer her questions at the moment, and decided to move away as soon as possible, she approached her girlfriend, took her in her arms with gentleness worthy of a Queen and went quickly towards the way that would take them to the Northuldra camp.

Sometime after moving away from the point of the forest plunged in darkness Elsa stopped struggling and fell gently in a placid sleep, as if all that anxiety had made her exhausted.

“Sleep well.” Honeymaren said, planting a kiss on her forehead while taking her gently in arms towards the Northuldra camp.


	2. Chapter 2

The way towards the Northuldra camp was passing with normality, something tranquilizing for the Northuldra girl who didn’t know towards where the presence of that dark being on the forest was spreading; the only inopportune situation was a thunderstorm that was approaching, taking away the sunbeams that were illuminating the morning.

Shortly before arriving to their destination the Crimson Bands that were keeping Elsa tied disappeared and Honeymaren kneeled to avoid dropping her by accident given the unbalance that caused. The Northuldra girl lowered Elsa gently, leaving her on the grass and taking a short rest at her side so that she could think what she would say to Yelana once in the camp.

 _I’m so happy that you are well and safe… but, how will I be able to prevent this from happening again?_ Honeymaren was thinking while she looked at her girlfriend resting at her side.

“What …? What happened? Where are we?” A slightly disoriented Elsa asked, waking up after some minutes.

“We were in our way to the camp when a dark creature played with your mind.” Honeymaren said, in a tone between serious and comical.

“Oh, yes... I think I remember something of that.” Elsa said, sitting and putting her hands in her head, as if trying to stop the light dizziness that she was feeling. “Wait, Anna! She...!” Elsa began to say trying to stand only to fall over Honeymaren because of her still remaining dizziness.

“Oh! Carefully Snowflake” Honeymaren said, removing gently with her hand the blonde hair that now was completely covering Elsa's face, realizing after doing it that their faces were intimately close.

Both girls looked at each other for a few seconds, a warm and loving look, while they could feel each other's breath on their faces and appreciate the warmth that radiated from the familiar figure of their beloved through her clothing.

"Oh Honey... now I remember," Elsa said, rising slightly from over Honeymaren's body, looking into her eyes as she felt her own getting clouded with sadness. “Did I hurt you?” The Snow Queen asked, sinking her face against the Northuldra girl’s neck and settling beside her so she could hug her.

“Don't worry Snowflake,” said Honeymaren, caressing Elsa's cheek. “That cold was nothing that your heat couldn't make disappear." She added, hugging Elsa back.

Both girls closed their eyes and stayed like that for a while, huddled, letting their discomfort fade thanks to the beautiful affection that radiated between them.

"I still don't understand why I behaved like that," said Elsa breaking the silence, still embraced by the one she loved so much.

"You thought Anna was in grave danger, I would have been anxious too if I thought Ryder was." Said Honeymaren, playing with Elsa's hair, taking advantage of the intimacy of their embrace.

"I understand that... but there's still something that doesn't feel... normal, as if everything had been gloomy, fuzzy; it felt bad, and the anxiety I felt only made things worse.

"That evil spirit caught you in its illusion, you don't have to blame yourself, you didn't know what you were up against, it was my mistake not to warn you, not to have told us to stop before we got too close...—while Honeymaren spoke Elsa could feel how she was also plunged in regret for something she shouldn't blame herself for, so she decided to interrupt.

"Honey, you are the last person who should feel guilty," Elsa said while sitting straight, trying to stop thinking in the subject so as not to drag her beloved with her to that dark ground. “You haven't told me yet, but I know you know more than what you appear to know, you just saved my life, didn't you?” Elsa asked her partner, who now sitting in front of her preferred to avoid her gaze.

 _I knew it_ , the young Queen thought.

Elsa moved a little on her knees until she was as close to Honeymaren as possible, took her gently by the chin and softly moved her head until their gazes met.

"Thank you." Elsa said in a soft, comforting voice that Honeymaren found truly appealing, and then, reading the thoughts of the Northuldra girl while giving in to her own wishes, she kissed her. It was an elaborate kiss, impregnated with passion and the adrenaline that both still had inside them after the danger they had just passed.

"Wow, that was... fantastic." Honeymaren said, still blushing.

"It was." Elsa said smiling as she tucked her hair behind her ear and the red color slowly faded from her cheeks.

The rain came along with the smiles of the young couple and Elsa used her magic to create a small perpetual snowfall around them that would prevent them from getting wet, turning the drops into just a little more of snow.

"Doesn't it make you a little cold?" Elsa asked once they were both surrounded by the miniature snowfall.

"Elsa…" said Honeymaren taking her hand. “The cold has never bothered me next to you.” Added the girl with brown skin, planting a kiss on the cheek of the young blonde girl, and with that cute gesture they both set out on the remaining journey to the Northuldra camp.

When the girls were only a few minutes away from the camp, they were interrupted by a voice behind them.

"So it's true." Yelana said, sitting under a large tree, whose leafy branches blocked the rain from falling on the area.

“Yelana! You’re here! You won't believe what happened to us!” Honeymaren began to say.

“Silence!” Said Yelana in a serious tone, walking towards them and before the girls understood what was happening the Northuldra leader was already standing in front of Elsa and touching her chest with the palm of her hand, just over the heart.

“What’s happening? Honeymaren asked quickly, and as quickly as Yelana put her hand on Elsa she took it away.

"That was weird." Elsa said, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Here, put this on your girlfriend's neck," Yelana said, throwing a necklace at Honeymaren; It was simple in design, a leather band and carved wooden pendant, but as she held it in her hand she could sense that it had something special. “You can see it after putting it on, hurry up.” Added Yelana

Honeymaren approached Elsa nervously, while she saw her with a confused look.

"I don't know what's going on, but I trust her... can I?" Said Honeymaren, gesturing with her hands stretching the strap of the necklace as if to put it on Elsa.

"Sure, do it," Elsa said confused but sure it was the right thing to do.

"I had thought that the first necklace I would give you would be something more special," said Honeymaren, whispering into Elsa's ear as she passed the ribbon over her head, "but I promise I will make it up to you," the Northuldra girl added, adjusting her partner's hair on the outside of the necklace.

As they separated their bodies, Honeymaren brought her hand to her neck and lightly tugged at the pale strap of the necklace that her girlfriend had given her in her first night in the forest and simultaneously dedicated her a kiss to the air. Elsa felt a nice sensation in her chest, quickly made a gesture to catch that imaginary kiss and sent one back for the one she loved so much.

 _I can't believe this_ , thought Yelana, exasperated and holding off the urge to put a hand to her face in disapproval at the overly romantic act she witnessed in the midst of such a serious moment.

“You finished?” Yelana asked, trying to hide her anger.

"Oh, sorry." Said Honeymaren, turning towards Yelana.

"Yes, I'm sorry." Said Elsa.

Yelana just sighed and walked towards the young couple.

"I'm glad you're okay, but I'm annoyed because you went to that place, especially you Honeymaren, I told you to avoid those kinds of beings since you started showing sensitivity to the spiritual world." Yelana said, rebuking the girls, with particular attention to the one she knew since she was a child.

Honeymaren only looked towards the floor while receiving the scolding, Elsa was embarrassed, but could not allow Honeymaren to be scolded when all she did was to save her life.

"No, that wasn't the way it was," Elsa said, stepping forward. “I’m Sorry for interrupting, but Honey always wanted us to avoid the place... It was my fault... and if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here now," Elsa added decisively.

"Did you go that close? Yelana asked, less surprised than worried.

"I'm afraid we did... When I woke up Honey said I fell under an illusion, something played with my mind," Elsa admitted.

"It wasn't her fault, that thing made her look at her sister in danger, she had no way of knowing it was an illusion." Honeymaren said, stepping forward on par with Elsa. Yelana just sighed again, looking to the distance.

"It's not a matter of guilt girls, I'm just afraid the situation is a little more serious than I expected," Yelana added, with a dismayed countenance.

For a moment the three remained silent, only the constant sound of rain filled the atmosphere.

"Do you know what happened? Elsa asked, after waiting a little in case the Northuldra leader wanted to comment something else.

"A part at least, it's not for nothing that I've been the leader of our people for years. I felt when that invading spirit came into the forest, the four spirits of the elements are altered by its presence, but they avoid confronting it, this is not a minor threat," Yelana said, sitting against the trunk of the tree that covered them in the rain; the young couple sat in front of her. Elsa, you are the fifth spirit, you managed to tame the four who had been tense for years based on your power and will and yet this being managed to make you fall into its deception; you must be cautious, your power will draw him to you Elsa, and your ability to perceive him will attract him to you Honeymaren.

"What can we do? How can we learn to expel him?” Honeymaren asked.

"There's not much I can do; understand, and perceive the mystical arts is something very different from practicing them, but I have a feeling that you can do something before it's too late.”

"Late?” Elsa asked.

"That thing came to stay, its influence will grow even greater, as far as that being is concerned this dimension is its new home.”

"Dimension?” Honeymaren asked.

"I'm not the one to explain that to you, but you'll soon know the answers.”

"How do you know?” Elsa asked.

"When that thing came I felt not only his presence, but two; the being with which you came into contact radiated evil, darkness, but the presence that followed it soon after felt benign; I truly believe that finding it will be key to being able to stop this invading darkness, and you two will have to do it. You're already part of all this.”

"Yelana! Yelana! Are you around here?” A coming voice asked, a voice that Honeymaren could easily recognize as her brother Ryder.

"Ryder!” Honeymaren yelled to help the Northuldra boy locate them.

"Honeymaren!?” Ryder shouted as he approached the origin of the voice. “Girls! I'm glad to see you, I didn't know if you were all right," said the boy once they met.

"We are, is there anything to worry about?” Honeymaren asked.

Yelana saw Ryder, he looked back and just nodded, apparently they both understood well what they meant.

"Has anything happened that we should know about?” Elsa asked.

Ryder sat next to the girls and Yelana prepared to update them on the situation.

"Yesterday a group of explorers should have come back, but they didn’t; delaying a little is not unusual or so serious, but we usually send another group to meet the previous one, in case there has been any unforeseen events; the problem is that this one didn't come back either... I feared that there was something dangerous in the forest, now I suspect that you have exactly stumbled upon it.”

"What? Have they found the culprit yet?” Ryder asked.

"It's possible, but it could still be just a big misunderstanding," Yelana said, standing up. “As soon as the storm passes, I'm going to go get them myself, I’m not going to risk any more lives.”

"But ma'am, you can't...”

"Silence Ryder, I've made my decision.”

"It's... it's okay, but I'll go with you, you know that exploring is one of my strengths.”

"We'll help too." Elsa said.

"Of course." Added Honeymaren.

"You are able to take care of yourself, I can't deny that I could use the help, I'm not as young as I used to be. I want us to cover the whole forest primarily, Ryder and I will check the entire southeast and you can go check the northwest.

"Good." Honeymaren said.

"Count on it." Elsa said.

Shortly after the search plan agreement the imposing presence of thunder and lightning reached the forest, and although they were still some distance away their strength made everyone understand that they should take refuge soon.

"We need to get back to camp, make sure it's safe to get through the storm," Yelana said.

"Sure," Ryder nodded."

We will return home, when the storm passes the search will begin be as agreed.

"Perfect," Yelana said, then made a slight bow as a farewell and walked away a little, giving Ryder time to say goodbye.

"Goodbye sister, take care, and you too Elsa," Ryder said while hugging them.

"You too Ryder and take care of the camp for me," Honeymaren said.

"Take care," Elsa added.

"I forgot to mention something," Yelana said once the hug was over and Ryder was on his way back to her side. That necklace, the symbol should keep you from getting too much attention from that thing as long as you don't get too close to it.

"Oh, thank you!” Elsa said, remembering the necklace she had forgotten about through the conversation.

"There's no reason to thank me, we owe you much more than that young lady, and Honeymaren, stay alert and follow your instincts, in this situation if something gives a bad feeling there’s a high probability it is a bad thing, and if something makes you feel confident, or a curiosity worth following, you might find whatever that followed the evil spirit here.” Yelana said.

"Thank you for the advice, I will!” Honeymaren said, and then each group went its way.


	3. Chapter 3

Elsa and Honeymaren started their way back home covered by another protective snowfall, but stopped at the part of the road where that dangerous encounter occurred.

“It's getting bigger, isn't it?” Asked Elsa, looking towards the area of the forest where they found the darkness.

“Yes, I hope we can find a way to stop it soon,” said Honeymaren, stopping to look for a few more seconds. “Now let's go," she said, taking Elsa's hand and continuing on their way. "At the rate that thing is growing it will soon isolate our home from the rest of the forest, I hope we can start looking for the missing explorers and that second visiting spirit soon.”

“I hope so too," said Elsa, hurrying to catch up with her companion.

As they closed the door of their house behind them Honeymaren took Elsa's hand and went straight to the room they both shared.

“I just want to get some rest, okay?” She said, looking at Elsa as they both stood in front of the bed; perhaps she hadn't said it directly, but Elsa knew that the girl meant for both of them to go to bed; what they had just experienced had left her worried and she wanted to rest feeling safe beside her.

“Of course." Said Elsa, caressing the dark haired girl's hand.

Both girls changed into their sleeping clothes, elegant nightgowns designed to suit both of them thanks to Elsa's skills, and then went to bed. 

“I'll never get tired of this," said Honeymaren, kissing Elsa on her cheek, then hugging her from behind.

“Are you all right?” Asked Elsa.

“Yes, I'm just a little tired, it's been a very tense day," said Honeymaren, resting her chin on Elsa's shoulder. “Your skin is always so soft, being with you like this makes me feel happy," added Honeymaren, rubbing her cheek against Elsa's shoulder.

"And I am happy to be with you," thought the Snow Queen as she felt slightly nervous at the touch and breath of Honeymaren so close to her neck, but beyond those nerves she really liked to feel so intimately close to her bride.

-You make me feel happy too" Said Elsa in a low voice, as she placed her hands on those of Honeymaren, who was holding her just where her chest ended, and so, feeling the warmth of her beloved, she fell asleep.

While the girls slept Honeymaren had another bad dream, in the darkness of the forest something unknown and dangerous was behind her, she ran, but she knew that she could not run away forever. If Elsa had been awake she would have felt the young Northuldra tighten her grip, or interlock her legs with hers, trying to be as close as physically possible, perhaps in some subconscious effort to seek safety. As the dream continued Honeymaren felt more and more tired, and as she was about to be reached a blinding brightness abruptly ended it all, after that the young woman woke up.

Honeymaren was breathing fast, after waking up from the nightmare she folded her legs, crossed her arms over her knees, and rested her face on top of them while she calmed her breathing. Once she managed to calm down she felt something strange, like a need to do something, even though she wasn’t sure what it was.

“I'm glad I didn't wake you up." Said Honeymaren when she saw that Elsa was still sleeping calmly, then she got out of bed trying not to wake her up.

“I'll be back soon, there's something I have to do." Whispered the young Northuldra in front of Elsa, kissed her forehead, and then hurried off to get her clothes and leave the room.

It was not the first time that Honeymaren had felt some sort of intuition, so she did not hesitate to investigate where it would take her on this time, she changed her clothes in the living room, took her staff and went outside the house.

The rain was still falling in the forest, but the intensity was much less than it had been a few hours ago, Honeymaren stopped for a few minutes on the veranda, thinking what she should do, trying to follow her intuition.

Where should I go? What should I do? thought Honeymaren, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the veranda, feeling the breeze that the rain brought with it. It didn't take long for the answer to come to her.

“The cave, that's where I have to go." Said the girl, and then immediately got up and headed for the entrance of that intriguing cave she had discovered long ago and near which they girls built their house.

The brown skinned girl walked quickly in the rain, and soon she was at the entrance to the cave.

“Here we go," she said, "what have I overlooked in the past?" she asked to herself, and then she went in, ready to go to the deepest point she knew in the cave.

The first times the Northuldra girl had explored that cave she did it with a torch, but now she knew it as the back of her hand, able to move in it in the darkness, also, the rock inlays that glowed in the darkness augmented visibility when they demonstrated that magnificent property; they usually glowed at night and on strange occasions that she didn’t understand; but it was still early for that, so she managed to get to the farthest part surrounded by darkness.

"This is where it ends, there's nothing beyond," said Honeymaren, exploring the solid rock wall that marked the end of that passageway into the mountain with her hands, as if trying to find something strange.

"There wasn't," said the same voice that helped Honeymaren contain Elsa in the woods, the calm, wise voice of a woman who seemed to have the answers to everything. The moment the Northuldra girl heard that phrase, the rock wall began to open, disappearing from the center towards the sides, as if it had broken into hundreds of pieces that worked in unison.

"Where... Where are you? The surprised and cautious girl asked when she encountered herself before an unknown place.

"I'm inside, you can pass if you like." The voice said, and soon a warm light as the afternoon sun rays lit up part of the passageway she was in. 

The surprised girl took a few steps through where the wall used to be and soon felt that the floor beneath her changed.

Wood? thought a confused Honeymaren when her eyes adapted to the new light and was able to finally distinguish that material under her feet, but that was nothing compared to what she saw on the path that opened in front of her.

A few steps through that small tunnel was a structure as the girl had never seen, several floors of wood, iron and stone arranged on top of each other were embedded in the rock, forming perfect circles delimited by railings, leaving a large space in the middle of the enclosure that allowed to appreciate the spaciousness and beauty of the place; different things seemed to dominate on each floor, open spaces, libraries, doors, display cases with what appeared to be ancient relics and even plants, all that could be observed under the light of one of the predominant features of the place, a huge round window with four large curved lines that went through all the window, dividing it, two that descended diagonally and two others that crossed the first in the lower part of the window , leaving the center free above the point at which they crossed, and this center being the only completely clear point in the glass, which was also delimited by lines, more abundant and straight, symmetrically coming from the entire edge of the window.

"This is unbelievable!" Honeymaren said to herself, standing in the center of the empty cylinder that went through the whole place; being there gave her a sense of security and a solemn feeling that there was great knowledge in that place, and a desire, a duty to do good with it, a sense of honor and protection that made her feel safe.

That site was very different from what Honeymaren had experienced in her limited life in the forest, everything was imbued with the essence of magic, something with which she was familiar but not in those high levels of concentration, everything seemed silent, but in some strange way it wasn’t an awkward silence, but a cozy one, one that seemed to give her confidence to stay there for long. The place had many surprising things, but something that made Honeymaren come back to think with her feet on the ground beyond the initial surprise was the air; usually the deeper someone entered a cave like that the air used to feel heavier and scarcer, wet at times, as if it stalled a little; but there was no such feeling in that place, it was as if the air circulated despite there being no other apparent opening; it was already strange that there was a window with apparent sunlight when outside was dark and raining, the young Northuldra thought of various ways of simulating the effect, fire, mirrors, crystals, rocks with luminescence, but the fact that the air there felt cooler and lighter than even in the portion of the cave that she had just left didn't seem to make sense.

"It doesn't have to make sense." Said that familiar voice from the top of the place, Honeymaren was able to distinguish a figure that moved near the railing of that level, but soon disappeared from her sight.

"Who are you? Is it finally the time when tell me? Honeymaren asked, keeping her rod firmly by her side in case it was necessary.

"It is." The voice whispered in Honeymaren's ear, but this time it wasn't just the transitory one that seemed to float in midair, but a very real voice coming from a person who was really behind the girl, who could feel her closeness to her back.

—Oh! Honeymaren let out a small scream of fright and reacted quickly, jumping to get away from who was behind her, stumbling and falling to the ground.

"Be careful, take my hand, I’ll help you up."

When the young Northuldra raised her face, she was able to distinguish a person who was strangely in front of her now despite having jumped in the opposite direction; at first she saw a pair of black leather shoes, being able to make out more of the figure as she looked up, she saw the end of a tunic with thick yellow folds and a grayish-green garment underneath, reaching the waist there was a wide thick belt of dark gray color and two folds of the yellow tone of the tunic that she later saw fell from the lapels, similar to those of a coat, and were held under the belt upon reaching it; two other folds of fabric fell free from the chest, emerging from under the lapels, and two pieces of dark leather seemed to pass under the arms of the slender figure, apparently to adjust the fabric of the upper back to her body as well as a hood. The arms of the robe were rolled up to the elbows, and in the area of the chest that the robe left uncovered, a lower garment of the same color could be distinguished, apparently formed of several segments of fabric sewn together diagonally meeting in the center of the chest.

Honeymaren took the hand of the person that offered it, trusting that it was the same person who had helped her before and when standing upright she could finally distinguish the face of the mysterious figure, which turned out to be as enigmatic as her clothing. The female voice the girl first heard at the woods belonged to a mature woman, perhaps in her 60’s; her head was shaved and curiously her face seemed to show signs of her age as well as it hided them, some wrinkles around her eyes contrasted with the smoothness of her cheeks, the expression marks around her mouth differed with the firm skin from her neck, but if something made clear that this woman could be even older than what she appeared to be those were her eyes, her strong gaze seemed to radiate knowledge, intuition, wisdom, as if she had already seen everything and could easily infer who the girl in front of her was, what she was capable of… sometimes Honeymaren felt nervous before Yelana's astute gaze, but this woman's made her feel as if she could easily see through her.

"Thank you, sorry for being afraid, I didn’t feel your approach," said the girl.

"Don’t worry." Said the mystery woman, not moving an inch from her place, as if she were inspecting the young Northuldra with her eyes, which caused a bit of nervousness in the last.

"You are the one who helped me in the forest, right?"

"That's right, you can call me Ancient One," said the woman, bowing slightly.

"I am Honeymaren," said the Northuldra girl, reciprocating the gesture.

"I know, you came here leaving Elsa asleep, didn't you?" I can assure you that she won't like it when she finds out.” The Ancient One said, turning around and approaching what looked like a small closed cubicle on that floor, built with long, interwoven fragments of some natural material.

"Yes, I left her asleep, and... I guess so, she's going to be upset... if she knows; but how do you know that?" The young and confused visitor asked, picking up her staff as the mysterious woman opened the small cubicle and went inside to get something out of what were apparently drawers arranged inside the small place.

"Oh, she’s going to know, believe me, and it’s simple, just one more skill when using magic properly." The woman replied while inside the cubicle and sounds similar to pieces of pottery being moved and a liquid being served filled the place. When the woman came out she had a mug with a steaming liquid in her hands. “Would you like some tea?” She asked to the Northuldra girl, who was surprised when behind the figure of The Ancient One she saw a tray with a teapot, a cup on her saucer, a jug of cream, and the sugar bowl with its tweezers floating nimbly towards her.

"S ... sure." Said the surprised girl, struggling a little to articulate her words with all the new information that she had to process. “I'm not used to this kind of tea, though.” She added as she raised her hand to take the kettle.

“Oh, you’ll like it; and no, don’t take it, let me show you something, just think about what you want to do.” —The Ancient One said.

Honeymaren took her hands away, left her staff on the floor, and obediently concentrated in the tea set in front of her, as if hoping to activate whatever that woman had in mind and at the same time remembering the little she had learned from tea on her visits to Arendelle.

"Close your eyes, visualize the tea set." The Ancient One said, and the girl did it until she began to hear something moving, when she opened her eyes the kettle was in the air, serving tea in the cup, but after the sudden surprise the kettle fell and broke by its own weight, carrying down the tray with it.

"Oh no!” Honeymaren said, instinctively trying to hold the tray.

The hot liquid would have burned Honeymaren, but The Ancient One stretched out her hand and suddenly the whole scene stopped, as if it had been frozen in time, and then, with another movement of her hand it seemed like if time went backwards, the tray returned to the position it was, the liquid returned to the broken teapot which was then repaired as if nothing had passed, finished serving the tea and slowly went down to rest again on the floating tray.

"How did that happen?” Honeymaren asked when The Ancient One signaled her to stop.

"Continue with the tea, but this time with your eyes open," the mysteryous woman said calmly.

The girl tried to continue what she had started without success for a few seconds.

"Forget for a moment the rules of what is possible or not, that tray is floating in front of you after all." The Ancient One said.

"You're right." Honeymaren said, and then she visualized the tweezers taking the little sugar cubes, soon the clamp moved and did just what the young woman had visualized, albeit trembling; finally the little spoon stirred all together with a little more fluency. At the end the cup and saucer remained floating in place, but the tray and everything else went floating back into the small cupboard cubicle from where The Ancient One had taken them out.

"How was I able to do that?” Honeymaren asked when she took the saucer and the cup from the air.

"Well, you didn't do it alone," The Ancient One said, approaching with her cup of tea. I made the magic of this place flow through you, activating your magical potential.

"Are you telling me that what I feel is really magic? So... concentrated in one place?”

“The magic you have felt in the forest is only the remnant of the spirits, this place is infused with active magic.”

"And I... do I have magical potential?”

“From a young age you showed affinity for this world, didn't you? but without developing it you would never see your true potential.

"But... isn't magic dangerous for someone who wasn't born with the gift?”

"Well, magic can be used for a lot of things, you thought about the light in that window, didn't you?" Honeymaren nodded at the question, “allow me" said the woman taking Honeymaren’s cup and making it float alongside hers, then with a quick hand movement touched the girl's chest and something surprising happened, the young Northuldra now felt as if she was floating in the air, and to her surprise in front of her she could see herself, her body at least, motionless, bathed in a strange light next to The Ancient One's body.

"Up here." Said a voice over her, and there was again the mysterious woman, floating in the vast space of the enclosure, in a translucent form that seemed not to obey the laws of nature.

"What's going on?” Honeymaren asked, looking at her hands, her arms, her strange translucent body that seemed to levitate behind what looked like her usual body.

"That is your astral form, the expression of your spirit, your soul or whatever you like to call it, in this form we are not affected by natural laws and interaction with the real world is basically null, except in exceptional cases and skills; the astral world is a parallel plane of existence in its own form, now come, there's something I want to show you," The Ancient One said in her astral shape rising towards the window.

Honeymaren didn’t know what to do in that strange form, but soon realized that it was enough to think about it to move on that plane, feeling she moved freer than she had ever done."

“It's amazing, I feel... as if I were almost weightless, light as a feather." Honeymaren said moving back and forth, up and down, and even trying some acrobatic movements that in her normal body were extremely difficult to do, being a piece of cake in the astral plane.

“I'm glad to see you're having fun, but come by my side now, you'll have plenty of free time to get acquainted with your astral form later.” Honeymaren nodded and easily went next to The Ancient One, in front of the window, trying to hide how fun she thought "flying" like that was.

"Look through this window and tell me what you see." The woman said calmly, and at that moment the soft, golden afternoon light became a grayish, rainy scenery.

"I see... It’s... it’s the camp, it's like... if it were right out of here, but that's impossible, we're a long way from where it is now and besides, there can't be a window here, not one that faces outside at least." Honeymaren said, turning towards The Ancient One, waiting for an explanation.

“This window has the symbol of Vishanti, powerful protector spirits of the earth and our dimension, it is also linked to the Orb of Agamotto, an ancient and powerful relic kept in this sanctuary and that is able to see everything; with that power, acting like a window to anywhere you want to see is nothing more than a children's game." The Ancient One said, to Honeymaren's surprise, who felt she had too much information to understand, many things that changed the understanding of reality she had until that moment.

"Sanctuary? Is this a sanctuary? Have you been here all this time?” Honeymaren asked, trying to understand what was going on better.

"It isn’t even a week old yet, but I’ll explain that later, there's something I want you to see." The woman said, and with a movement of her hand towards the window the image of it changed to what Honeymaren soon could distinguish was her room.

"That's my room." Honeymaren said, and before she could ask why they were seeing it the fact that Elsa wasn't in bed caught her attention, that curiosity became fear when she realized that the protective necklace Yelana had given her was left on the bedside table.


	4. Chapter 4

Honeymaren was beginning to feel fearful that for not seeing her girlfriend in the vision of her room through the window when The Ancient One intervened to explain. 

“She left a few minutes ago to look for you, after not finding you near the house she feared that you might have gone into the forest and went there looking for you.”

“No, no, she's in danger, I must go back for her!” -Said Honeymaren worriedly, feeling a chill on her back and a pressure on her chest as she thought what might happen to her beloved if she met that thing again.

“I can see that you have quickly become accustomed to your astral form, feeling things as if you were still in your physical body, but don't worry,” said The Ancient One, waving her hand over the window again, and the Snow Queen appeared to be walking hastily through the forest, outside of the hidden little valley which she and the brown skinned girl shared.

“She is further than I expected, I won’t be able to catch up," said Honeymaren worried.

“The being you met has the capacity to cloud the thoughts of others, either by implanting ideas or manipulating them by means of illusions, it almost captured your young partner once, having felt her power it will not stop trying to consume her.”

“Consume her, what do you mean with…? wait, that doesn't matter now, we must stop her!” Said Honeymaren as she levitated down towards the base of the enclosure. “Should I just touch my body to get back inside or how does it work? Asked the girl, stopping in front of her body, which stood calmly, as if frozen in time in that curious glow.

“You'll learn in time, I'll help you a bit for now,” said The Ancient One, and soon the girl felt a slight push forward, energy coursing through her body and suddenly she was back in the physical world.

“That was…" Said Honeymaren, looking at her hands and feeling her body, as if trying to verify that nothing had changed.

“One gets used to it." Said the Ancient One, who was standing in front of her, "now to help Elsa I must make sure of something," said the woman, placing her hand on the forehead of the young brunette.

“What... what are you doing?” Asked Honeymaren, trying not to move as she did not understand what was happening.

“I wanted to verify having the spiritual energy of that girl well located, there is no better source than you now, you are deeply imbued with it," said The Ancient One as she turned towards the center of the room and began to make some movements with her hands.

A few seconds passed and then orange sparks, as if from some sort of fire, appeared in the air, then they took on a circular shape and as the circle closed a hole formed, visibly connecting to another place; soon a scream could be heard and then the surprised Northuldra girl could see Elsa fall through the magical hole, being suspended in the air by The Ancient One just before hitting the ground and finally being left gently on it.

“Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted, quickly approaching to kneel on the floor beside her beloved.

“Honey? Are you all right? What are you doing here? Where are we?” Asked Elsa, confused and a little hastened. 

“She shouldn’t have taken off the necklace given to her by the leader of her tribe," The Ancient One said, now standing beside the couple, then she knelled down, put a finger on the white skinned girl’s forehead and drew a shiny magical symbol that took the Snow Queen’s consciousness out when it disappeared.

“What have you done to her?” A worried Honeymaren asked, holding Elsa's head against her chest.

“I put a protective incantation on her, that cut off Null's influence on her mind, but to have two mystical forces fighting within oneself is exhausting even for those who have training, the shock of releasing her was exhausting, so she fell asleep immediately, but don't worry, she will soon be fully recovered, if you wish we can take her to your room now, she will be safe here, the forces of evil cannot penetrate this sanctuary," said The Ancient One with a wise yet comforting look and then she stood up.

“All right." Said Honeymaren, taking Elsa back into her arms.

The Ancient One directed Honeymaren through the stairs; as they went up what would apparently be a long way Honeymaren observed better what was on each floor. Living rooms, libraries, gardens, bath rooms, saunas, large spaces similar to training dojos, bedroom hallways, rooms with large windows that seemed to magically give out to another side of the world and terraces that really looked like a piece of the outside world impossibly present in that room, all of that was truly impressive, but some of the things that caught more of her attention were the halls full of relics, even without setting foot in them she could feel the magic emanating from those artifacts; kept in display cases, pedestals or wall mounted it was clear that they were all special and powerful in their own way. 

"Excuse me," Honeymaren said as they approached the highest floor, now turning their attention to finding out as much of the situation they were in as possible.

"Yes, Honeymaren?”

"A few minutes ago you referred to that being as Null, do you know what it is, where it comes from?” 

"Follow me, we're close to your room, I'll answer your questions when we let Elsa resting," The Ancient One said as they reached the top floor.

At the bottom of the corridor to the right of the large window was the room that The Ancient One had assigned for the young couple. When they entered the presence of wood, stone and iron dominated the place, just as in the rest of the sanctuary; there was a large bed, night tables, a large closet, a large private bathroom and a small living room with a low table and sofas, plus a small magical balcony that seemed to connect to the sea at the time.

 _The room is beautiful_ , Honeymaren thought, as she put Elsa to bed as she had already done several times. _But you are more_ , she thought as she gave the young woman a slight kiss on her lips.

"I'm glad you're safe," whispered the young Northuldra, adjusting some of her beloved's hair, and then returning to the door of the room, where The Ancient One was waiting.

"Follow me, now we'll talk.” Said The Ancient One, and Honeymaren did just that. 

About halfway up the sanctuary was a large room with light grey stone floor, walls of the same color with dark forged metal windows that showed slightly through them, small waterfalls of water in symmetrical divisions placed on the walls and surrounded by a small channel of running water connected to the waterfalls, all this surrounded by a lush garden area beyond the intermittent walls.

"This room is beautiful," Honeymaren said as she entered.

"It is, it really is, unfortunately what we're going to talk about isn't," The Ancient One said, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, a gesture that Honeymaren copied in front of her.

"So, what do you want to know first?” The Ancient One asked.

"That thing in the woods, I heard you called it Null, what is it? why is it dangerous? why does it want Elsa?”

"Null is an interdimensional being that threatens universes, is also known as ‘The Living Darkness’, and is a pure darkness entity, devouring mystical energy to survive as well as to increase its power; unfortunately, it has reached this dimension and now everyone, even the dimension itself is in danger.

"Wait... there are things I don't understand; dimensions?"

"Excuse me, I started too fast; dimensions are planes of existence,” The Ancient One said, materializing with magic and some gestures the flat image of a large tree. “At the beginning of existence, all dimensions started from the same point, just like the trunk of this tree, but life is a complex combination of events, things that may or may not happen depending on many interconnected events; think about it, if you had stumbled and passed out when you chased Elsa to keep her from approaching Null, what would have happened to her?”

Honeymaren felt a lump in her throat at the thought of that possibility, but took strength to answer.

"Then... that being would have devoured her."

“That's right, just a second, a small mistake, and she might not be here now, without her many things that could happen in the future never would, from the life together that you plan to have to the times that she could have helped someone in the forest or in the Kingdom of Arendelle; That little moment would have had many consequences that would come off every time something happened where Elsa could have intervened, creating different possibilities, different lives, and in turn those small differences would form different dimensions; Just like the branches of the tree, certain points in the history of the existence of a dimension are divided by having several possible results, when these results have an impact of significant importance, a dimension arises to house each possible future and thus a multiverse is born, so varied and broad as the ramifications that a tree can have.

"So... do these arise with each passing moment, with each possible different event?"

"You learn fast," The Ancient One said. Now, there are beings that can travel between those dimensions thanks to great power and mystical ability, Null is one of those beings, one of darkness, evil and destruction, however, not only that kind of spirit beings can do it, remember when I told you that this sanctuary was not more than a week old?

“Yes, I remember, I don't see how it could have been built in such a short time and without anyone noticing.”

"Girl, nothing is impossible for the mystical arts, Null was transported to this dimension a few days ago, from my dimension," The Ancient One said, taking Honeymaren by surprise.

"You’re telling me you aren’t from this dimension?" Honeymaren asked somewhat concerned about what this implied.

"I'm afraid not, but I'm not like Null; I am the Sorcerer Supreme of my dimension, in charge of protecting it, fighting against the darkness and sharing the knowledge of the mystical arts to whoever is worthy of it, that is why I am here.”

"Are you going to protect this dimension too?"

"No, this dimension is not my responsibility," The Ancient One said coldly.

"But if you don’t, who will stop that monster from destroying everything? Will it consume all mystical energy and just leave?”

“There is mystical energy in everything that has life Honeymaren, when you talk about consuming all the mystical energy you mean exterminating all life on the planet and the dimension.”

Hearing those words felt like a cold splash of water for Honeymaren, who remained shocked for a moment, staring at the ground.

"Doesn't our dimension have a Sorcerer Supreme?" The girl managed to say, amid the fear she felt.

—Apparently not, the last one died without leaving a replacement, it is an unusual event but not impossible; that must have been why Null decided to transport himself to this dimension... but it may have a new Sorcerer Supreme, if you have the ability to do so.

“Who? Me?” The surprise at those words made the girl focus again on the real world.

“My dimension is chaos at the moment, that's why I didn't detect that Null escloakd from its confinement and transported itself here, i would usually leave the responsibility of dealing with it to the Sorcerer Supreme of the dimension he escloakd to, but perceiving that this dimension doesn’t have one I decided to give some of my time to train someone and not be the cause of the loss of an entire dimension due to my carelessness. I transported myself here following the trail that Null left between the dimensions, it makes sense that it decided to appear here, this forest has a great magical concentration and its located in an area of great power, I in turn decided to use this mountain as base given that it is located right on a Ley Line, one of the magical veins of the earth, in addition to the gems that it has inside and that add up some great extra magical potential.”

"So you built all this inside the mountain?"

"In part, not all credit is for me, I rescued part of the old abandoned sanctuary of the last Sorcerer Supreme by bringing it here and opened an interdimensional portal to use resources of close dimensions, not taking them, but conjuring them according to their potential to exist at some point in the history of this dimension, you could say that I simply conjured their essence, bringing them from time to space; I know the vast majority of what appeared in this place, articles of great power whose existence is so strong that they exist not only in one dimension, but many. With the knowledge gathered in this place and a small guide you can become a great Sorcerer.”

"But why me, why not someone more capable? like Elsa, for example, she already has magic, and managed to tame the spirits of the four elements, the spirits of the forest.”

"Elsa is certainly powerful, and her power will only continue to grow, but her power is different from that of a Sorcerer, she is more like..."

“A spirit...” Interrupted Honeymaren.

"That's right, its power is tied to the spiritual world and the earth, it's phenomenal, but there are things that only a Sorcerer can do, out of the bonds that Elsa's magic has.”

"I understand... But why me? Why not someone else out there? Yelana knows about magic, she could come and learn and..."

“Young lady... your energy, the magic inside you, the magical potential you can develop, all that is different from anyone I’ve felt around here; Null not only chose this place to appear looking for magical energy, it possesses a great intellect and surely detected that Elsa, and you, even more so, would be the greatest threat to achieve its mission in this dimension." Honeymaren was silent when she heard those words. "I can see that you are the greatest hope for this dimension Honeymaren, but I can't train someone who doesn't want it, the decision is yours," The Ancient One said, then got up and left the room, leaving Honeymaren alone, looking to give her time to think.


	5. Chapter 5

The young Northuldra had never encountered such a decision in front of her, since she had been told that she was sensitive to things that other people had not she had been surprised by it, but it was nothing that would have affected her daily life, or her years of growth, but this time... this time the girl knew that the decision she was about to make would define the rest of her life.

"Do it." Honeymaren was pleasantly surprised to hear her beloved's voice behind her back after a few minutes in solitude, as she got up and turned she saw her standing at the door frame, then Elsa walked to her and both hugged affectionately.

"You saved me again." Elsa whispered, and then they separated.

"I'm afraid... both times she was the one who saved you, I couldn't have freed myself in time to catch up with you in the woods, and this time you were too far away to even hope to get there in time.

"Maybe she took care of the specific actions, but you were behind every situation, for me you'll always be my savior," Elsa said, holding her partner's hands.

"Thank you...." Said Honeymaren blushing. “I suppose you have a lot of doubts," she added as they let go of their hands.

"I met The Ancient One in front of the huge window when I left the room, she introduced herself, put her hand on my forehead and made me see everything you had talked about until she left you here, so... we know the same thing," Elsa said nervously.

"And... do you think that I... Should?

"Absolutely." Elsa said, holding Honeymaren's hands and looking into her eyes. “You are the most wonderful girl I have ever met, you can be sweet and strong, fun and responsible, and beyond that I know that there is no one with a heart as pure and a spirit as strong as yours... you can do it." Elsa added, then let go of Honeymaren's hands and hugged her tightly. Both lasted for a time like this, in a hug full of affection, and wrapped in the warm feeling of their bodies Honeymaren got convinced of her decision.

"I'm going to do it." Honeymaren said, excited about what those words involved, and then quickly stole a kiss from her girlfriend.

"That's good!... fantastic!” Elsa said a little nervous because of the surprise kiss.

"Come with me, I must tell The Ancient One!” The young Northuldra said, holding hands with the blushing Snow Queen and carrying her with her.

"I will." Honeymaren said, meeting The Ancient One in front of the huge window of the sanctuary.

"Magnificent, early tomorrow we will begin your training, you better be ready." The woman said, as if she had never doubted the girl's response or what they were about to begin.

"Ready, am I going to train too?” Elsa asked confused.

"From the moment Null knew you existed you became part of this, it would be negligent of me not to teach you at least to defend yourself from its influence and power; I also doubt you could leave Honeymaren alone against danger, even if she asked you to, so if you're going to be in the front line, you better be prepared." The Ancient One said, in her same serene and trusting tone as usual.

The girls saw each other for a few seconds as they understood what The Ancient One had just asked them.

"Feel free to explore the sanctuary, I'll see you early tomorrow in the tenth floor training room." The Ancient One said, and then retired to the left wing hallway, where she apparently had her room.

The girls toured the sanctuary until late at night, becoming acquainted with its rooms as well as some new artifacts that seemed to be part of the daily life and a few more magical looking things that they preferred not to touch; The Ancient One didn’t show up for the rest of the day, but there would be time for questions later, and beyond that, together in that exciting new place the two spent a magnificent afternoon.

"This place is awesome." Honeymaren said excitedly closing the door behind when they finally returned to their room.

"Yes it is, I had never seen anything like it, not even in the books my parents brought me from every Kingdom they visited," Elsa said, sitting on the bed.

Honeymaren sat next to her companion and sighed.

"What's going on?” Elsa asked, holding the hand of the young Northuldra.

"All this... brings so many doubts to my mind... do you really think I'm the right one?”

"Yes, I really do." Elsa said animatedly and then let go of Honeymaren's hand. “Also,” continued Elsa in a softer and more intimate tone “if someone is to take care of our dimension against doom and darkness... I'd feel safe...," Elsa said, bringing her face closer to her girlfriend's face “Knowing it's you.” 

The Snow Queen finished the sentence and then closed her eyes, touching her beloved's lips with hers, feeling her warmth, her disposition, and then her desire in the response of her mouth, in the shudder of her body. Both girls separated their lips a few seconds without separating their bodies, looking into their eyes, as if looking to confirm in the look of the other what they were about to do... a little look was enough. At that moment both surrendered to the passion of the moment. The clothes of the young Northuldra began to accumulate on the floor, snatched from their owner by the agile hands of the Snow Queen as the magical layers of her own clothes gave way to the stimulating touch of the girl who was about to become a sorceress, giving way for her common clothes, base for her creations, to be exposed to being removed too by the dexterous touch of her hands. Soon there was nothing standing in the way of the passionate touch of their bodies, Honeymaren's curious and fervent hands explored resolutely the body of her beloved among waves of pleasant pulses that discharged the tension of an expectant young woman; the couple's legs, intertwined intimately in harmonious swaying expressed a sea of sensations that not even the most fluid muse in the literary arts could have described and Elsa's hands, which contained the agitated touch of the heat of the moment and the cold of her powers spread across the body of the one whom she was in love with, wishing intimately that the gentle touch of her caresses could make her feel the fervent liberation whose desire ran through her being thanks to her. Meanwhile, their lips, initially caught in the sweet elixir resulting from their kisses agreed a momentary departure to explore the vast and insinuating landscloak of their bodies, unleashing a recurring cycle of rhythmic displays of emotion when they found a place of particular sensitivity. For a time, the young couple gave themselves completely, stripping body and soul for the other, merging their being in a way that only the purest love can achieve.

Knocks on the door of the room woke the couple the next morning.

"Wake up! It's time to start training!” The Ancient One shouted.

"We're coming!” Honeymaren replied, sitting on the bed.

"Just give us fifteen minutes." Said Elsa, even more asleep than young Northuldra, grabbing Honeymaren's body as a support to get up.

“You have five.” Answered The Ancient One and then walked down the corridor.

Elsa sighed, trying to settle her messy hair.

"If I knew we were going to have to get up so early, I wouldn't have allowed you to make me stay awake so late, I feel exhausted...," Elsa said, dropping back on the bed when Honeymaren got up and burying her face on her girlfriend's unoccupied pillow. “Mmm... smells like your hair." Elsa said, getting comfortable again.

"You allowed me!?" Said Honeymaren smiling “I wasn't the one who started again with the caresses after we were done." The young woman added, drawing a heart with her finger on the soft skin of Elsa's exposed back.

"I know you enjoyed it, remember? Magic hands?” Elsa said without lifting herself from the pillow, just raising her hand in the air in a gesture of victory and creating a fleeting blizzard as if it were fireworks.

"Oh, you're the worst." Honeymaren said, and then laid on Elsa's back, enjoying a few more minutes of that unparalleled sense of peace that the warmth of her skin against hers made her feel.

A few minutes passed and then the knocks on the door came back.

"Time's up! Don't make me bring you with a portal! The Ancient One said, speaking in a higher tone.

The girls reacted faster this time because of the surprise and because they had fallen asleep again without wanting to.

“Where's my... you know?” Asked Elsa worriedly gathering her clothes with one hand while with the other she held the sheet in which she was wrapped.

“I don't know... have you seen my other boot?” Asked Honey, quickly gathering her clothes on the bed, not bothering to cover herself.

“I told you not to throw things like that." Said Elsa, bending down with difficulty to look under the bed.

“I'm sorry, it was the heat of the moment." Said Honeymaren sitting on the bed and starting to get dressed.

“It's not the first time you've done it, besides...” Said Elsa as she tripped over the sheet while she got up and fell to the floor wrapped in it, freezing the ground around her a bit.

“Are you all right?” Asked Honeymaren half dressed, peeking out over the bed.

“I am not." Said Elsa, apparently trapped by the way she became entangled in the sheet.

Honeymaren just smiled, came down on the other side of the bed and bent over.

“I don't know why you're covering yourself, there's nothing I haven't seen." Said Honeymaren smiling, tickling Elsa's exposed feet.

“Stop it, let me go!” Said Elsa laughing, freezing a bit more around her and slightly frosting Honeymaren's fingertips.

“You're so pretty when you're helpless." Said the young Northuldra, moving a little from her position, then she took one side of Elsa's sheet and pulled, breaking the surface ice and helping her to free herself.

“Thank you." Said Elsa standing again, in a delicate tone of voice like a spoiled girl who doesn't like anything.

“Oh, it happened again.” Said Elsa, back to normal taking Honeymaren's hands with hers as they were slightly icy and accidentally dropping the sheet, the girl tried to kneel down quickly to pick it up, but Honeymaren would not let go of her hands, preventing her from doing so.

“Why this sudden desire to cover yourself? what's different today? did I do something wrong? Asked Honeymaren.

“No, of course not, it's because of The Ancient One... I have a feeling that she might actually take us through a portal as punishment for being late... I don't want her to see me like this." Said Elsa.

Honeymaren just smiled, holding her gaze, a sweet look, full of understanding. A few seconds later little drops that began to fall at her feet brought them back to reality.

“Oh, your hands, I'm sorry, I covered them in ice again," said Elsa as she watched the ice on the girl's fingers melt.

“You don't have to worry, it's superficial and doesn't hurt a bit, I've got used to it, the cold coming from you has never felt uncomfortable.” Said Honeymaren as she released Elsa's hands and then with one easy hand movement she removed the little frost that remained.

“I am relieved to hear it, my magic hurt Anna in the past, I was worried that the same could happen to you.”

“I don't know why it is different, maybe it's because your control of magic has increased, but whatever the reason I'm glad it is." Said Honeymaren, moving the sheets from the bed and then sitting on it.

“Yes, it is." Said Elsa, a little more relaxed, picking up her sheet.

“You can make clothes, why don't you just do it?”

“I can, but doing it from scratch is difficult and unsafe, I prefer to use something real as a base in case of any... failure.” Said Elsa, slightly flushed.

“Better to be careful then." Said Honeymaren, throwing the missing garment to Elsa.

“Where...?”

“It was behind the bedside table.”

“Oh thank you," said Elsa, and then she threw away the sheet and started to dress while Honeymaren finished dressing.

Finally, once Elsa had put on the clothes she was wearing as a base she re-created her dress over those, ready to go.

“You look as pretty as ever." Said the young Northuldra as she tucked her hair into a ponytail.

“Aren't you going to braid your hair as usual?”

“There's no time, as you said The Ancient One wants us out there as soon as possible, this will work.”

Once both girls were ready they left the room and Elsa froze the lock.

“What are you doing?” Asked Honeymaren.

“The room is a mess, i don't want anyone to see it like this.”

“Oh Snowflake...” Said Honey, kissing her girlfriend on the cheek. “It's nice how you care about such simple things.” She added and then walked on, leaving Elsa blushing behind.

“Hey, hey, wait for me!” Said Elsa, running to catch up with her.


	6. Chapter 6

"You took your time to arrive in your first day." The Ancient One said, waiting for them at the center of the training room.

"We're sorry." Honeymaren said.

"We had some complications." Elsa said.

Both girls stared towards the floor embarrassed.

"I'll let this slip, being your first time, but from tomorrow every foul will be punished with more rigorous and demanding training, is it clear? The Ancient One said, in a calm, even charismatic tone of voice, that curiously made punishment more frightening than if she had yelled at them.

"Sure, we understand." Honeymaren said.

"We’ll make our best so it doesn’t happen again." Elsa said.

"I hope so," The Ancient One said, and then her body language shifted to a more relaxed one.

"Well, first of all I'll give you the opportunity to change your outfits, in case they feel impractical for training." The Ancient One said, walking to a large cabinet at the side of the room, when she slid the door a variety of fabrics, of different colors and materials came into view.

"You can take whatever you want, the dressing rooms are at the bottom, to the left, you have twenty minutes, when you get back training will start.” The Ancient One said, then turned around and headed to another large cabinet that apparently contained varied gadgets, from which she started selecting some.

Both girls stopped in front of the cabinet, taking a quick look at everything there was.

"I don't need much." Elsa said, removing the long magic layers of her outfit, staying in her basewear that formed a full two-piece body suit covered in some of her magic. “I'll just take this,” she added as she stretched her hand over a nice bluish white ribbon that glowed differently depending on what angle the light touched it and then tying her hair with it.

"That's cheating." Honeymaren said, seeing the rapid change of Elsa, who only smiled back at her, and then she continued to see what she could use.

After a few minutes the young Northuldra took a black two-piece suit and a dark purple robe in addition to some fabric bands and a belt of the same material.

“This will do," Honeymaren said, folding everything over her left forearm. “Do you want to come and give your approval?” The brown skinned girl asked looking at Elsa, with a slightly suggestive tone in her voice.

"Sure." Elsa said, and then they both walked into the dressing room.

"You can turn around now." Honeymaren said when she finished changing into her new outfit.

When Elsa turned she was surprised by the difference of the outfit the Northuldra girl was now wearing.

The black suit that the girl wore contrasted with the purple of the robe in a soft and interesting way, the belt elegantly highlighted the shape of her waist and the bands of fabric were tied on the sleeve of the robe, from the forearms to the hands, adjusted passing around the thumb and also from under her knee to her bare feet, adjusting between two fingers and returning to the ankle.

"Oh wow!... you look... unbelievable, like a full warrior." Elsa said, looking at the girl’s outfit from head to toe.

"Thank you! I hope it will be useful in practice; now let’s get going, The Ancient One must be waiting." Honeymaren said, taking Elsa’s hand and hurrying back to the training room.

Elsa felt the need to praise her girlfriend more, seeing her in such a different outfit made her feel something... special that she could not describe, but it would be something that she needed to keep to herself until the right time arrived.

When the girls returned to the training room they saw The Ancient One sitting in the center, with her legs crossed in a meditation pose and soon after felt a strange touch from the back; suddenly everything changed, and that strange new feeling that Honeymaren could recognize suddenly came back; it only took seconds for them to confirm what had happened, they were out of their bodies.

"Hello again, great choice in your outfits, as you know how to adapt in the physical world you must learn to defend yourself in the spiritual world." The Ancient One said calmly in her astral form.

Honeymaren quickly changed her attention from The Ancient One to her partner, she had never experienced that form and she did not want her to be frightened.

"Don't worry, Snowflake, I'm here," Honeymaren said, holding her hand in that spiritual form when she saw the blonde girl beginning to look back and forth bewildered.

"Are we really out of our bodies?” Elsa asked nervously, but knowing how to contain herself.

"This is our astral form, a spiritual form if you want to see it that way, and part of the duality between our body and spirit; neither can remain in this reality without both, so one depends on the other... you need to understand this and know how to defend yourselves on both planes; I easily managed to separate you from your physical bodies and Null could do so as well if you’re helpless." The Ancient One said.

Elsa listened to The Ancient One 's words a little bewildered, but being able to feel Honeymaren's hand holding hers, even in the midst of that strange new experience, brought her back on her way and helped her focus on the importance of the situation.

"There's a lot of knowledge to acquire before astral projection, but I wanted you to understand how delicate the situation the situation you went through really was." The Ancient One said, then took them by the arms, took them back to their bodies, and with a little push got them back into them.

"Well, now the training begins." The Ancient One said, getting back into her body as the girls touched each other as if they were looking to confirm that everything had returned to normal.

The first day of training was the most thorough thing the girls had ever done, learning at basic level various ways to master their body, from meditation positions and methods to stretches to improve agility and basic self-defense positions. Lessons continued until nightfall, when the soft flame of the lamps hanging on the contour of the room provided them with the light to continue.

"I'm exhausted." Honeymaren said, wiping sweat off her face with a towel as she sat in the corner of the room next to Elsa, who laid on the floor surrounded by snow that was rapidly melting by the heat the young woman was throwing away.

"Tell me about it... I've never done this in my life and she seems to want me to keep up with her in a day," Elsa said, with her voice somewhat agitated.

"You shouldn't cool down like that, your muscles won't take it well," Honeymaren said as he adjusted the bands of cloth she carried.

"The cold is part of me," said Elsa, apparently pleased with the freshness that the snow gave her.

"The break is over," said The Ancient One, who had been rehydrating.

Both girls rose slowly and approached the center of the room with The Ancient One.

"This will be the last exercise today, I want you to attack me, try to strike as best you can.”

"Are you sure you want us to do that?” Honeymaren asked, raising her hands in combat position, Elsa was nervous but also raised her fists in a more defensive pose.

"Ha! You say it as if you're sure you can make it." The Ancient One said, adopting a defensive pose and awaiting for any attack.

Honeymaren approached first, trying to pass through The Ancient One 's defenses, only to be rejected every time by rapid movements of her forearms, Elsa tried to surprise her from behind, only to be skilfully repelled by a kick that deviated her blow and a second one tha twent for her abdomen, knocking the air out of her, Honeymaren thought she saw an opportunity and came dangerously close to the side of her teacher just for her to quickly move aside, took her by her ponytail and made a swift whiplash movement causing her to fall sharply to the floor; the scene lasted less than sixty seconds, but the pain would last much longer than that.

"I'm sorry for having to be so rough, but every minute that passes Null becomes stronger, you need to improve as soon as possible, the enemy will not hesitate to take advantage of your weaknesses." The Ancient One said as she offered Elsa her hand to help her get up.

"With your power we can surely send that thing to a place where it can't hurt anyone," Elsa said, with one hand on her abdomen and slightly bent over because of the feeling of numbness she had left.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, I won't be able to help you in that battle.”

"What, why?” Elsa asked, surprised.

"I'll explain that later, when the time comes," the woman said as she approached Honeymaren, who was on her knees rubbing her neck. “For now, all you need to know is that you won't count with me at the time of the showdown.”

"Thank you." The brown skinned girl simply said when The Ancient One helped her up, knowing that it would be no use insisting to know what she meant.

"Come on, in position! ready for the next showdown! "The Ancient One said, entering combat pose again, this time you will block my attacks.

Hearing that Elsa raised her arms putting herself in defense position and Honeymaren took her hands to her head, quickly releasing her ponytail to settle her hair into a high messy bun; with some long locks falling freely on either side of her face and others by her nape.

 _Much better_ , the young woman thought, feeling that she had compensated for the tactical disadvantage that her long hair brought her in the close fight.

The woman did not give long before directing her first attack towards Honeymaren, who efficiently blocked the blow with her forearms, was then destabilized by a quick movement of The Ancient One's leg against her left ankle and then knocked down by a certain push with her elbow.

When the young Northuldra was on the floor the woman quickly turned around and with an agile jump landed behind Elsa, knocking her down with a quick series of touches at her back.

"You should be embarrassed ladies, being knocked down so quickly by a woman older than the sum of your ages together." The Ancient One said, her tone calm as usual as she helped the young women to their feet. Here ends the training for today, I see that you have exceeded your limits, demanding more would bring more risks than benefits, rest and train your mind for tomorrow, I will wait for you here at the same time.” The master added and then she turned around and walked calmly to the exit of the room.

"We'll be here." Honeymaren said, in a tired but confident voice.

"Thanks for the lessons." Elsa said, reflecting the same determination as her partner.

"Let's go get our towels and my clothes, then we can go back to the room to shower and get some rest." Honeymaren said, walking wearily to the corner of the room where they rested.

"Sure," Elsa said, and both girls started gathering their things when Elsa froze as she ducked down. “Ouch!” the girl exclaimed in pain.

“What happen?” Honeymaren asked, dropping her things again to stand next to Elsa, who had one hand on her hip and the other on her upper back.

"A cramp," said the white skinned girl. “I felt a little bit of tension, a prick and then a stretch.” She added, trying to rub her muscle to loosen it.

"I told you cooling off so drastically could hurt you." Honeymaren said slightly annoyed, but the anger faded into concern as she saw the pain in the face she adored. “Sit down” The young woman said later, calmer.

Elsa nodded, sitting down slowly; Honeymaren dropped to her knees behind her and was preparing to run her girlfriend’s blouse even further under her already exposed shoulder when the young Queen stopped her by putting her hand over hers.

"Not here," the aching young woman whispered.

Honeymaren only rolled her eyes slightly, a little overwhelmed by the misunderstanding of her beloved, then simply acted over the blouse and then pushed her fingers a little harder than necessary on the affected area, Elsa complained, but the young Northuldra continued making constant movements massaging the area, until the pain complaints gradually diminished.

"Thanks, I feel better," Elsa said placing her hand on Honeymaren's hand on her back. “Shall we go up to our room?” Elsa asked, turning slightly towards her partner.

"Sure." The girl replied, and then they both left the room together.

Once in the calm of their room, the girls took off their training clothes, took their tunics and white robes off the closets, and went to take a shower, followed by some relaxation in the bathtub.

“It still hurts?” Honeymaren asked, while both girls were lying in the bathtub, Elsa slightly on top of her, both because of the reduced space and the desire she had to feel the calm and security that the warmth of her skin against hers provided.

"A little, sometimes I feel a little cold and that's when it hurts." Elsa said calmly.

"Come here ... you don't have to go through that." Honeymaren said, gently guiding Elsa to rest her back fully against her chest. Better?

"Yes, much, thank you." The young Queen said, getting comfortable and then taking her girlfriend's arms to put them around her.

“What happened?” Honeymaren asked somewhat nervously, feeling her arms tucked under her girlfriend's chest.

"Just hold me, please." Elsa said sleepily.

"Of course," said the brown skinned young woman giving in to her partner's whim. “We can be like this for a few minutes, but not too long, okay? A long time in hot water can be counterproductive.” Said the young Northuldra, and then planted a soft kiss on her beloved’s forehead.

"Okay yeah, just a few minutes." Elsa said, snuggling into Honeymaren's arms.

That night passed in a very peaceful way, Elsa was clearly exhausted so Honeymaren took her to bed and finally the Snow Queen fell asleep happily in the arms of the one with whom she was in love.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Honeymaren woke up a little earlier, skillfully got out of bed without waking Elsa and left the room wrapped in her robe, thinking of going to the nearest living room for some hot drink.

"You love her, don't you?” The Young Northuldra was coming down the stairs when she heard those words and turned around to see The Ancient One, who was at the beginning of the stairs.

"Well... yes... why the question? Honeymaren asked in return as the woman descended the stairs until she stopped a few steps from her.

"It's not crucially important, but you should be aware of how that bond can cloud your vision and anyone who wants to play with your mind or spirit will see a weakness in it. I don't share that belief, but I do think you should take proper precautions.” 

"I understand that, but I won't give them a chance for it to be used against me, besides, she's quite capable of taking care of herself.”

"You're right, what she did in the woods was impressive," The Ancient One said as she began to go down the stairs, making a gesture for the young lady to come with her. “Right now the forest spirits she managed to tame are containing Null’s advances the best they can, they’re doing a great job, but while they can slow it down, they can't stop it, all they can do is buy time.”

"Time for what?”

"For your training.”

"The spirits... do they know about this?”

"Of course, this is their forest," The Ancient One said as they reached the next floor and headed to a living room. “They detected the presence of the invader and began to contain it from the beginning, they also detected my arrival and supported the construction of this site as a response to the threat of Null; achieving this would have taken me longer if I had done it alone, the dimensional energy is powerful; the energy of the spirits, linked to this place can exponentially increase its efficiency by working on their own element." The Ancient One said while both reached the room where they were going.

Honeymaren sat on a sofa, suddenly feeling a greater weight on her shoulders from what she had just heard; The Ancient One went to the back of the room, where the kitchen area was located and put a kettle full of water on the cast iron stove.

"Don't worry too much about it now, focus on your training and there'll be nothing to be afraid of." The Ancient One said, as she pulled out of the kitchen cabinets everything needed to make tea. 

"Why me?" The girl asked again.

"The spirits wouldn't have decided to support this path if they didn't think you could do it." The Ancient One said, sitting on the sofa in front of Honeymaren. “Trust yourself, just as they have.”

"You're right, this is not the time for doubt, not with everything that’s at stake, tell me, how much time do we have before Null's influence extends so far that the situation is critical?

"I'm afraid it's already critical, in a normal scenario nothing would stop it, how fast it advances wouldn’t matter knowing that eventually it would dominate everything, however, if we want to use something as an indicator I would say that in a couple of weeks it would consume the forest," The Ancient One said calmly.

The young woman felt a shiver ran down through her body when she heard that, thinking it would be impossible to learn enough to defeat him in a couple of weeks.

"Don't worry, the time at the sanctuary passes differently than outside, I've taken care of that personally; I won't go into details, but I can assure you that there's enough time and it would do you good to stop thinking about it, the last thing you need now are distractions that make your learning difficult." The Ancient One said calmly, rising off the couch, and going for the kettle.

"Understood, I'll try not to think about it.”

"Perfect, some tea?” The woman asked as she served a cup.

"Sure, thank you.”

The Ancient One gave a cup to Honeymaren and then went back to the stove.

"Wow, this delicious, what did you add?”

"A little bit of honey." The Ancient One said, coming back with two cups and leaving one on the little table in the middle.

The dark haired girl was intrigued was intrigued by the extra cup until the answer came before she could ask the question.

"Honey, where are you?” Elsa asked from the top floor.

“Down in the living room!” Shouted the Northuldra girl, then turned her attention to the woman in front of her. “How did you know?” She asked The Ancient One. 

“Her presence gives off great magical energy, she must learn to conceal it if she is not to be perceived by the enemy from afar, as she was in the forest," said the Sorcerer Supreme, going for the corridor. “I’ll leave you alone, I’ll see you in the training room in half an hour." She added, and then she disappeared in the corridor. Shortly afterwards the figure of Elsa in her white robe could be seen in the living room.

“Oh, Honey, I didn't feel when you got up, it wasn't... very pleasant to wake up and be alone without knowing where you went," said Elsa in a slightly whimsical voice as she sat beside her beloved.

“I'm sorry, is it something I could make up for with a good morning kiss?” Asked Honeymaren, with a flattering smile.

“That's a good start." Replied Elsa with a smile.

The young couple shared a warm kiss and then Honeymaren filled Elsa in on the implications of the training she had discussed with The Ancient One, some things were worrying, but feeling they had each other they could put that feeling aside. 

A week of training passed, The Ancient One 's training regimen was rigorous, rest was short, and the demands were high, yet her great teaching ability (and some mystical support) enabled her apprentices to gain basic mastery over their body control and martial arts at that time.

“Your progress has been commendable, girls, congratulations!" Said The Ancient One, standing between the two young women on the evening of the eighth day; by that time, though tired, they no longer felt the fatigue that had weakened their bodies the first few days.

“Thank you." Said Honeymaren, standing up straight and bowing slightly as a sign of gratitude.

“We are glad to hear it" Added Elsa, copying the gesture of her girlfriend.

“You have nothing to be grateful for, your own efforts have brought you here.”

“And a bit of magic, isn't it? I have felt the influence of your magic during training, that is why we must be grateful." Said the young Northuldra.

“You caught me, your sensitivity really is a gift, the spells I used were meant to be imperceptible," said The Ancient One, with a slight smile on her face. “Anyway, my spells didn't give you anything, they just gave you the possibility of a higher performance when training, the skills you got based on the process belong to you completely, and that's why tomorrow we'll start with a new training.”

“New training? We’ll start with magic?” Asked Honeymaren.

“Follow me." Said The Ancient One calmly and then led them to a large library near the center of the sanctuary, the room was large and seemed to span several floors, with stairs connecting to each level. There were tables to study at, couches to read more casually, and many lamps to provide light where needed. The sight of books dominated the room, some on wooden shelves, others in nets made of chains which held them in their assigned place, and each one of them concealing secrets which would be of great use to the young couple.

“Physical training will still be necessary daily, but now you will add another type of development to your routine," said The Ancient One as she walked through the library, that leaving a circular empty space in its center, which cut across all the levels, replicated in some way the structure of the sanctuary itself. “The knowledge in these books will give you a fundamental understanding of the mystic arts that we will use as a base for developing your skills.”

“There are so many books here, will you tell us what we can read?” Asked Honeymaren. 

“You are free to read whatever you wish, provided your knowledge enables you to understand it, so I will suggest some basic volumes according to your level, what you wish to take as an extra will be your decision; and of course you can ask me how to find something on a specific subject." Said The Ancient One as she began to take books from various places and bring them with her magic to one of the tables. 

“Ancient One... may I ask a question?” Said Elsa, following her a few steps away as Honeymaren checked the books The Ancient One had left on the table.

“Sure.” Ask anything you like.

“Thank you. Where you come from, in your dimension, are there many people with magic?”

“I wouldn't say many, there are... enough to protect the Earth, as well as to support protecting the dimension," replied The Ancient One without being distracted from her task.

“And your world... has it made peace with magic?”

After hearing that The Ancient One stopped, perhaps because she had just sent the last book to the table or because she wanted to pay special attention to the answer she was about to give.

"I'm afraid that's a harder subject than I can answer in a short conversation; people fear what they don't understand, they fear the new, whatever that challenges their preconceived ideas of things. The world where I come from is not yet ready for magic, the sorcerers keep protecting them from the shadows, sharing the secrets only with those capable of understanding them." The Ancient One said, and was able to distinguish a small gesture of disappointment in the face of the young Snow Queen.

"I understand, I'm sorry I took your time with such a simple question," Elsa said, preparing to turn around.

"I know why you ask this young lady, I know what you’ve lived, but every world is different, don't judge yours based on what little you know about mine, your people feared magic while your couple's people admired it, a conflict arose, and in resolving it you changed their views bringing light to their future. Just as you got the magic accepted here you could achieve it wherever you set your mind, that's something even I couldn't achieve in my world." The woman said, with a slight smile on her face, watching the countenance of Arendelle's young woman fill with hope.

"These are all for me, aren't they?” Honeymaren asked at the distance, while she apparently had just finished accommodating the pile of books that The Ancient One had formed on three tables, leaving some space between each.

"Yes, they are, great intuition, I see that you’ve already set an order for them.”

"Of course, based on subjects and their complexity, as well as leaving a little room aside to make my notes.

"Excellent. In those books you will find basic knowledge about what magic is, spells and their multiple shapes, results, possibilities and dangers, when you understand that you can start using a little magic on your own.”

"Thank you very much, I'll do my best." Honeymaren said, pulling out a chair to sit on until The Ancient One put it back with a move of her hand.

"You will start tomorrow, your mind must be fresh and responsive, the new routine will be to study here from morning to afternoon, from then on we will continue with physical training, which will eventually be intertwined with the knowledge that you acquire here to develop both areas together.

"I understand." The young Northuldra said, heading back to where they were.

"I'll assign the books for Elsa and you can go rest," The Ancient One said, and started selecting and sending books levitating as before, ending in a couple of minutes.

"These seem to be less, but they are thicker." Elsa said standing in front of the table where her teacher had finished accumulating the books.

"The kind of magic that you're both capable of is different, the knowledge you need is also different," The Ancient One said while approaching the girls. “Honeymaren needs to know a little of the broad spectrum that magic encompasses in all its senses while you Elsa, you possess a kind of magic as special as it is unusual, your ability goes beyond the elemental magic that you have always possessed, for the cold has shown a high spiritual power, I would expect no less given what you achieved with the spirits of the forest, but even if you are one of them you still have to discover much of your potential, that is why it is not worth getting into the generalities of magic like Honeymaren.”

"I understand, I want to start, I'll be looking forward to tomorrow.”

"I'm glad to hear it, I'll wait for you here at the same time every morning.”

"We’ll be here." The Northuldra said.

"Without delay." The girl from Arendelle added.

The young women said goodbye to their mentor and then went to their room, took a shower and then lying against each other, talked for a few hours about how exciting it would be to finally begin the path for their magical training.

A few weeks passed in the sanctuary and the knowledge of the young women increased exponentially, Honeymaren felt that her eyes opened towards themes and planes of understanding that she never thought she would come to touch, the young woman had many questions but The Ancient One patiently answered each of them, drawings, demonstrations, magical illusions created to visually represent something, nothing was an impediment for her teacher who saw with pleasure as the knowledge and vision of the young Northuldra expanded formidably.

Elsa advanced her knowledge on a par with her partner, albeit in her own direction; her knowledge of the spiritual world deepened, her understanding of her magic and the wide spectrum of things she could do with her filled her mind with exciting possibilities and her mentor was always there to help her see through anything that could seem confusing.

The young couple's life saw a transformation whose influence would be seen for the rest of their lives during that learning period, The Ancient One always gave her guidance and they supported each other to stand firm against the doubts or uncertainties that some new piece of knowledge brought to their minds, especially those of the dangers that the world of magic brought for anyone who dared to delve into them. The bond between the two also changed, becoming stronger and more intimate than before, their bond was such on a physical and spiritual level that even The Ancient One came to be surprised.

 _So many years and I've never seen love influence magic like this. There is no doubt that one never stops learning... not until the last second_ , the Supreme Sorcerer thought as she watched from a balcony the girls training martial arts on a portal terrace that they had adjusted to be on the beach, by the sea. Some waves broke hard against the platform soaking the whole place, between the magic of Elsa and the slippery floor both girls slipped occasionally on the rock and sand, having fun while doing it and resting a little together on the ground before getting up again; the structure of the training was very erratic but she had given them a day off to train to their liking, so she allowed them to continue, feeling how the spiritual energy of both danced cheerfully intertwined.


	8. Chapter 8

Some more time passed and the girls were ready for their magic training, Elsa showed progress from the first moment, managing to do more complex things with her magic thanks to what she had learned and even getting a little deeper into healing magic, both at a spiritual and physical level, discovering in this an extension of the way in which she could “cure” the spirits of the anxiety and anger that they had suffered for years. Honeymaren, on the other hand. was having trouble projecting the magic she had learned about to the real world, despite acquiring a great deal of knowledge in her studies.

"I know you can do it, don't feel pressured." Said The Ancient One, who was walking around the room, watching the progress of both.

"I'm sorry... I know I should put this out of my mind, but... we've spent a lot of time here, are we still in time to save the forest? Aren't my people and Elsa’s family looking for us?” Honeymaren asked.

"Take a break and come with me," said The Ancient One. Hearing that, both girls abandoned their training poses and calmly followed their mentor to the huge window in the sanctuary. “I once mentioned that time passes differently in this place, right?”

"Sure." said Elsa.

"You did." Said Honeymaren.

"Remember the buds that were about to bloom near the lake when all this started?"

"Yes, I remember we went to see them every day expecting to see when they opened," said Honeymaren, and upon hearing that answer, The Ancient One activated the magic in the window, giving them a clear view of the lake as if they were there.

"What you see is how the lake is in the present." The Ancient One limited herself to say as both young women watched the image closely.

"It can't be." Elsa said, fixing her gaze on the few flowers that could be seen over the buds, most of which still waited for the right moment to bloom.

“Only a few have flourished… two or three days could have passed at most; definitely not a week, how is this possible?” Honeymaren asked.

"I told you, time passes differently in this place, you have studied temporal magic, what do you think about this?" The Ancient One asked, addressing Honeymaren.

"It... it is possible, it would take an enormous magical power, but I do not doubt that you possess it... I am sorry I doubted." Said Honeymaren, making a small bow in repentance, a gesture that Elsa performed as well.

“Don't worry, I'm glad you can get those worrisome thoughts out of your mind, but don't get calm either. Every hour that goes out there is an irreversible advance of Null consuming this world, it's a very serious matter and every moment counts.

“Of course!” Honeymaren said standing upright again and ready to continue training.

"We will continue to strive and improve," Elsa said, equally determined.

"Okay, let's continue with the training," The Ancient One said, and then they all headed back to the room they were in.

Back in training Honeymaren's hands got enveloped with magical orange sparks for the first time.

"Concentrate on the energy in your body and spirit, let it flow freely," The Ancient One said.

“You can do it Honey!” Elsa said, stopping what she was doing to support her girlfriend.

A few seconds passed and the amount of magical energy that the young woman projected increased, until small flashes in the form of rapid lashes began to appear and suddenly the intricate shapes and symbols of a spell were projected erratically in front of her hands, to stabilize soon after, constant in their energy, form and behavior.

-Well done! The Ancient One said, with a gesture of pride at the young woman's achievement.

"This is wonderful! Now you can use magic too, it makes me so happy!" Elsa said hugging her beloved from behind, happy to see the achievement she had obtained and perhaps also to feel that now her partner could also follow her in the world of magic.

"It makes me happy that you're here with me," Honeymaren said, disappearing the projection of her spells, putting her hands over her girlfriend’s and rubbing her cheek against hers.

Some weeks passed after that milestone of the young Northuldra in the world of magic and her ability in the Mystic Arts advanced in great leaps, managing to create portals with ease, mastering the astral form and conjuring spells increasingly complex and to commemorate that progress The Ancient One had a surprise prepared for her.

“Wake up." Honeymaren heard close to her ear one morning, as a faint whisper similar to her master's voice.

“What is it? She asked softly, turning carefully so as not to wake up Elsa who was hugging her from the waist, and being surprised to see that The Ancient One was in her astral form.

“Follow me, there is something I must show you.” Said The Ancient One, and then she disappeared through the door.

Honeymaren got out of bed very gently, changed quickly into her training clothes, and went out to find The Ancient One standing in front of the huge window back in her physical form. When she saw her she only waved her hand again, asking her to follow her, and began to walk towards a door on the south side of that floor, an area the Northuldra girl had never entered.

“Here are some of the most powerful relics, and other interesting items too." Said The Ancient One as she opened the door, and as soon as Honeymaren set foot inside the room she confirmed those words; the energy in that room was different from all the others. The place was large and full of cabinets, shelves, and display cases, all arranged symmetrically and containing undoubtedly objects of great magical power, from familiar shapes to some of curious new forms which the young woman had never seen.

“Come with me." Said The Ancient One, after giving the young woman a few seconds to get used to the vibe of the place, and then led her through the hall to a room at the back, full of cabinets very similar to those in her now familiar training room.

“They look like the cabinets in the training room." Said Honeymaren.

“They are similar, and serve the same purpose, your abilities have increased in great leaps, you deserve to carry something more suited to your level, everything here is imbued with magic as you will perceive, it will help you as you face the new challenges ahead." Said The Ancient One calmly placing her hand on the young woman's shoulder and then headed out of the room. “From now on you can begin to study what is in this room and use its resources, Elsa can do that too, though I doubt if anything will be of much use to her." Added the woman as she left the room, and don't forget to close the door to the room, it is not opposed to our entering, but it’s spell would be of great help in protecting it if any intruder were to enter the sanctuary.

“Sure, I will, and thank you very much, for this!” Said Honeymaren, happy with the situation.

“You don't have to thank me, you've earned it through hard work.” Said The Ancient One as she left the room and then closed the door behind her.

Honeymaren spent a few minutes searching among the cabinets, selecting what she felt was the right thing for her, a two-piece suit and tunic, both of a highly similar dark blue color, some bands -apparently made of various materials, showing parts of one shade of light blue and one shade of a darker one, some greyish details, brown sections and segments with a curious interlocking pattern of various colors, such as blue, white, black and yellow- and a complex brown belt with grey borders formed by various sections with locks, which were joined in a metallic circle where they were adjusted at the height of the hip.

“It feels fantastic, let's see how I look.” Said the young Northuldra opening a small edge on the cabinet which unfolded a long mirror. She knew well that the usefulness of the attire was the important thing, the visual aspect being secondary, but it was quite acceptable to wear an attire to personal taste as long as its usefulness was not compromised.

The clothing of the young woman now reflected in the mirror had changed drastically, the suit and tunic seemed an extension of each other with the similarity of their color, the belt, adjusted precisely, adapted the fabric to her body, giving it a more agile profile and the bands, adjusted in the same way that she had done with the fabric ones, ended up adjusting the attire to her body achieving the greatest dynamism possible.

“It feels and looks good, what more could i ask for?” Honeymaren said to herself as he looked in the mirror, happy to feel that her attire resonated with her energy.

The young sorcerer closed all the cabinets properly, took the clothes she had taken off and proceeded to leave the room, satisfied with her new attire.

“Aw... you look so beautiful," whispered Honeymaren once back in the room, watching Elsa still sleeping, hugging the pillow she was recently lying on. “Perfect time to try a new skill," she said, pulling out a small transparent crystal in her left hand and projecting a magic symbol with her right hand, then placed the symbol on the cute scene she witnessed and put the crystal in the middle; within seconds the magic flowed towards it and the magic symbol disappeared, leaving only the crystal in her right hand.

"Please work," the young sorcerer thought when she brought the glass to her face, and to her happiness the impression of the young Queen with her pillow had been sharply engraved on the glass.

"Better than a photograph." The young woman said, keeping the glass with her.

Honeymaren approached the bed on Elsa’s side and appreciated a few seconds the calm and beauty of her face before removing some hair from her forehead and giving her a kiss.

"Wake up sleeping beauty.”

"Is it tomorrow?” Elsa asked, waking up, rubbing her eyes and then opening them, surprised by Honeymaren's new outfit. “Honey! You look like an awesome sorcerer; the outfit is gorgeous!” Elsa said quickly rising from bed to better appreciate the young Northuldra's attire.

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it, I feel like it’s made for me." Honeymaren said, turning around on her tiptoes so that Elsa could fully appreciate her attire. 

"It's wonderful! did The Ancient One give it to you?”

"She allowed me to take what I liked from a room similar to the training room we've been using, but at the back of this floor, the one we haven't entered, do you want to go see?”

"Can we?“

"Of course, she said we'd already reached the necessary level, although maybe there wouldn't be anything that was of great use to you.”

"Well, even out of curiosity, let’s go to go take a look.”

"Great!”

"We only have half an hour before we have to show up at the library, so let's hurry." Honeymaren said, closing the door behind them when they entered the room.

“Wow, there's so many things here!” Elsa said slowly advancing as she swept the place with her eyes.

"Yes there are," Honeymaren said, following her closely.

"Only The Ancient One must know what each of these things is for," Elsa said. 

"Surely she knows... it's funny, I can feel like they all have a great story behind them," Honeymaren added. 

Elsa stopped to see a large crystal with several protruding segments aligned in the shape of a flower that was on a pedestal and Honeymaren stopped by her side, where there was a large display case covered for some reason with a large black cloth.

"What could be here?” Honeymaren wondered, taking the cloth where the folds were and moving it a little to take a look and she suddenly was able to distinguish movement inside, instantly followed by something red that abruptly crashed into the glass right where she was watching. “Ah!” The surprised young woman shouted, going backwards because of the shock and accidentally pushing Elsa, who struck the pedestal holding the big crystal she saw.

The crystal fell to the floor abruptly, breaking and releasing a great quantity of energy that pushed everything in its path like the raging winds of a hurricane, breaking display cases and throwing relics into the air, the girls were only covering themselves from the sudden magical explosion when suddenly they found themselves falling down a hole that appeared on the floor to soon realize that it was not that the floor had opened, but that was some kind of portal to some unknown place; darkness dominated the place where they were now, with flashes of light and strange color formations with objects moving erratically from side to side; it was a changing scenario and something very complex to process so suddenly.

"Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted as they fell and saw that they were separating, knowing that the most important thing was to be together, Elsa had not studied about inter-dimensional travel, if she got lost she would be tremendously difficult to find.

"Honey!” Elsa shouted, turning to fall on her back and stretching her arms towards the young woman approaching her trying as best as possible to control her fall, when she suddenly became abruptly stopped hitting one of the objects moving through the strange place, becoming unconscious over the strange spherical shape. 

"Elsa, no! Honeymaren shouted in despair as she continued to fall while Elsa had stayed in that erratic formation; every second counted because the distance between the two grew more and more and in a place like that the speed at which they moved away could be much greater than that in the real world. The young sorcerer reviewed in her mind which strategy would be best to get both out of there as she continued to fall without getting a concrete plan fixed when she saw a rapid red flash pass falling in front of her; when she looked below again he saw what looked like a broad piece of red cloth with details in the form of a pattern of squares in some folds levitating below, as if waiting for her to fall on it, and so it happened. Once Honeymaren fell on the fabric she could feel as it fit her body and somehow slowed her fall, soon after she felt like something seemed to surround her neck and to her surprise two golden emblems with red details were on each side when she managed to give a look; just after that her drop speed was drastically reduced until she stopped and then began to ascend. "A cloak, you're a magical cloak, you were in that covered display case!” Honeymaren exclaimed, with a passing moment of happiness, feeling that at least the problem of the fall was solved. “Thank you for your help," she added, somehow feeling that the cloak had a connection to her and confirmed that she was there to help. A few minutes passed and the cloak led the young sorcerer quickly in several changing directions through that vast and mysterious place, the young woman was flying thanks to her newest ally, but that feeling was what mattered the least to her at the time, she had to find Elsa as soon as possible, and the cloak knew it too. "There!' Honeymaren said, pointing a direction to follow for the cloak after the girl was able to perceive Elsa's magical presence in the distance. It didn't take long to be able to distinguish what looked like an iceberg floating in the midst of the vastness of that place. "

Honey!” Shouted Elsa in the distance once she saw the girl approaching.

"Elsa, I'm glad you're okay!” The young Northuldra said animatedly, landing on top of the great ice mass and strongly embracing Elsa, who did the same.

"I'm glad you are," Elsa said, and they both shared a warm hug for a few seconds.

"Now we must go." The young sorcerer said when they let their embrace. Honeymaren then took Elsa in her arms, carrying her in princess style, while the Snow Queen put her arms around her neck and gently stuck her head against her body, after that the cloak flew back to the portal through which they had fallen. As both girls flew they enjoyed the intimate contact that position gave them, Honeymaren was cheerful feeling Elsa in her arms, knowing that she was carrying the person she loved so deeply, for her part Elsa was safe and content in the arms of her beloved, feeling as they wrapped her up and took her firmly to keep her close. Both girls avoided looking directly as they ascended, knowing that they would blush heavily from doing so, but still knowing without a doubt what the other felt.


	9. Chapter 9

Once back in the relics room the young women could perceive that several portals had opened, growing as time progressed.

"We must stop this." Elsa said.

"I have an idea." Honeymaren said, levitating to the back of the room, where right in the center there was a big door, apparently made of dark stone. “I'm going to let go of your back so hold on to me.” The young sorcerer said to her girlfriend, not wanting to let her on the floor with the unstableness of the place. The young Queen nodded and held her partner's shoulder better, getting closer to her; then the young sorcerer gave a magical touch to the stone door, opening it, both girls advanced levitating and once inside the door closed behind them.

The room was dark, stone-colored and devoid of any detail or decoration, except for two things, in the background, the symbol of Vishanti that also formed the huge window of the shrine was carved into the stone and in the center of the room, a platform of the same material housed a small base on which rested one of the most powerful relics that Honeymaren had read about.

"The Eye of Agamotto." Honeymaren said, finally letting Elsa's feet touch the floor.

"The magic that this relic irradiates is formidable, can you use it safely?” Elsa asked, walking next to Honeymaren as she approached the center of the room when suddenly the cloak came off from the young Northuldra, floating on its own in place, as if refusing to advance further.

"Are you... you're alive, aren't you?” Elsa asked the cloak, which only made one move that could be interpreted as affirmative.

"Why do you stop? do you think it's a bad idea?” Honeymaren asked, and in the face of the movement of the lively relic she understood that it was not the case.

The young women, coming out of the adrenaline that getting back from that strange place caused them, stopped a little to appreciate the cloak that now floated among them.

The neck of the cloak was high and straight, had a large design embroidered on the back and upper back and at the end at the front had two gold metal emblems with straight angles and curved outer edge, one on each side of the neck and both with an elongated hexagon design – mostly gold, with some red exceptions near the outer edge-. The entire edge of the cloak had an intricate embroidery that varied from scattered symbols to lines that demarcated everything and oscillated between the symbols. The left shoulder of the layer was especially delineated with an edge equal to that of the end of the layer and it is from this shoulder that some lines split, embroidered in diagonal directions along the layer, connecting sometimes to form a few frames of a darker red color to the rest of the fabric and which in turn would be embroidered with a tiny engraving on its entire surface; finally by the inside of the layer a slight pattern of grids located geometrically so perfectly covered the entire extension of the fabric could be seen. There was no doubt that that relic was a masterpiece of great power on its own, being easily distinguished that in each embroidery, symbol or detail it had a great mystical power infused to it.

"You're clearly powerful and you seem to know what's going on, so tell me, what are you trying to say?” The young Northuldra asked.

The cloak wrapped around Honeymaren, made her turn around to stand in front of the Eye of Agamotto and let go, giving her a slight push, all in a fast sequence of movements. Elsa took a few steps towards the young sorcerer but the cloak spread itself to prevent her from approaching.

"What's the matter with you?” Elsa asked struggling to get through.

"Should I do this alone?... that's what you mean, isn't it?

With a quick movement of the cloak they both understood that it was.

"Don't worry Snowflake, I'll be fine, just give me a few minutes and everything will be settled." Honeymaren said, turning to Elsa, and then she took the remaining steps towards the platform.

The powerful artifact looked as impressive as Honeymaren had seen it in the diagrams embodied in the books, the golden curved shape of the Eye clearly made of some high capacity mystical metal showed black symbols engraved along much of its surface and its central shape consisted of the symbol of Vishanti already known to her, through which a background of similar characteristics and a second curved shape as the Eye could be seen, golden and with black symbols engraved too, and where the spherical form that undoubtedly housed the enormous power of the ancient relic was settled. Finally, two golden locks came out over it, holding the leather strap that was impregnated and reinforced magically and that allowed the relic to be hung around the carrier's neck.

 _Here I go_ , Honeymaren thought, after getting lost admiring the relic, and then took it, hung it from her neck adjusting it to the height of her chest and proceeded calmly to perform the procedure to open it, putting her hands in position and making the corresponding movement; once opened a powerful green glow bathed the half of the room towards which Honeymaren was standing, after that the young sorcerer conjured the control spells by appearing the green magical rings on her right forearm and a magical symbol of the same glow in the palm of her hand.

"I can do this." Honeymaren said, then turned to the door of the room and walked decisively towards it, Elsa meant to say something, but somehow she knew that it was best to allow her to concentrate, the magic she now had at her disposal was of an excessive power.

In the room of relics chaos reigned, almost everything was lost, falling into the portals that seemed to devour everything without end or being destroyed by the forces acting in the place. The young sorcerer concentrated, took a proper position and extended her hand towards the center of the place, also raising her left hand directed to the same place, and then, slowly but firmly, began to rotate the magic symbol that she carried in front of her hand to the left. When the magic began to act the young woman was surprised by what she saw, but even more was the young Snow Queen, standing a few steps behind her, trying not to interrupt her, and wrapped in the cloak that sought to protect her from any unforeseen events.

The stage in the room during the mighty spell that Honeymaren was doing was something that had to be lived to believe it, things began to come out of the portals and return to their places faster and faster, the size of the portals was constantly diminishing and soon began to disappear one by one until there was no trace of them, finally the things that the explosion of the glass destroyed began to repair themselves and returned to their places, and in the end the crystal that caused everything ended up repaired and on its pedestal.

"It's done." Honeymaren said, and promptly dissipated the control spells, closed The Eye of Agamotto and dropped to her knees.

"Honey!” Elsa shouted, dropping next to her girlfriend and wrapping her arms around her.

"I'm fine... just a little exhausted." Honeymaren said to Elsa's ear, resting her face against her neck.

"Are you sure?”

"Yes, don't worry." Honeymaren said, sitting up straight and staring at Elsa's worried eyes.

"You look so cute when you worry..." Honeymaren said calmly.

"Silly, this is not the time for you to say that." Said Elsa blushing.

The girls' gaze intertwined for a few seconds and at that moment the cloak surrounded them, making their faces even closer.

"Why is it doing this?” Elsa asked.

"She must know... I want to do this... " Said Honeymaren, nimbly passing her arms behind her girlfriend and then giving her a tender kiss, being able to get momentarily lost in the jubilee that the fine touch of her lips gave her, all of course, under the privacy that her newly acquired accomplice had given them.

Less than a minute passed when the cloak, with the same will that she used to put the girls together, separated them and lifted them from the floor to make them stand, settling on Honeymaren's back and stretching to get Elsa a few steps away. The girls were about to reproach the cloak for interrupting their intimate moment when they heard the footsteps near the door and rushed to wipe the traces of their kisses that were still around their mouths; Honeymaren cleaned herself with the cloak and it complained vigorously about it.

"You incited us, now shut up!” Honeymaren said, knowing full well that the cloak did not speak, but referring to that curious series of ideas that seemed to be able to transmit to her intuitively.

Soon the door of the room opened and The Ancient One calmly entered calmly, sweeping the place with her eyes until finally setting her gaze on the young couple. 

"The Cloak of Levitation came to you! It’s is quite a feat; it is usually... capricious." The Ancient One said as she saw the peculiar magical cloak fixed on Honeymaren. 

_I didn't think I'd see this twice in such a short time_ , the Supreme Sorceress thought to herself.

"It did. Without it i could not have repaired what happened here.” Answered the young sorcerer.

"I'm glad you're not trying to hide it.”

"I don't think there is any way, even if I tried.”

The Ancient One laughed slightly when listening to that answer.

"What happened was my fault master, I broke the crystal." Elsa said, stepping forward.

"That's not true, I pushed her." Honeymaren said, putting herself on par with the young Queen.

“The important thing is that it is behind now and that you have proven to be able to handle an emergency; also young Honeymaren, the way you used the Eye of Agamotto was amazing for your first time, my best apprentice in my own dimension could not resist the temptation and his first time using it was somewhat... hasty," said The Ancient One, walking towards the girl.

“Thank you... I knew it was a risk, but I felt that the risk of not doing it would be greater.”

“And you're right, that crystal channels interdimensional energy, if those portals kept multiplying out of control they would have swallowed this whole place.”

“And why didn't you intervene?” Asked Elsa.

“I was confident that you would make it, your skills at this point should be able to handle it... It was an impromptu test." Said The Ancient One calmly, standing in front of the young women.

“Thanks for the confidence," said Honeymaren. “I will return the relic to its place." She added, taking the powerful device that hung around her neck.

“It won't be necessary." Said The Ancient One to the young woman's surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“The time has come for you to use it... come with me.” Said The Ancient One in a more serious tone, and then the young women left the room behind her.

The Ancient One led the girls to the huge window, and as she stood before it the calm image of the lake outside the sanctuary on a rainy afternoon was visible, the calm of its surface being only interrupted by the drops that a gentle rain was depositing on it.

“Do you see anything unusual?” The Ancient One asked.

“No, the lake looks calm as usual." Honeymaren said.

“And there are hardly more blooming flowers." Added Elsa.

“Look out over your little valley.” Said The Ancient One, and that's when the young women noticed it.

When the young couple looked beyond the mountains they could distinguish a thick white mist which they recognized at once.

“The forest is shrouded in fog again?” Asked the young Northuldra, more confused than surprised.

“It can't be." Said Elsa, equally confused.

“It's not what you think, that fog is your ally this time, because Null has learned of our location and the plan to stop him, it made him furious and now he's heading this way, pushing hard at every moment. That barrier is the last front of the spirits of the forest to gain some time.”

“But how, how did that demon discover it?” Asked Elsa, a little upset.

“The portals." Said Honeymaren, thoughtfully and with a somewhat downcast countenance.

“Then it was my fault." Said Elsa in a worried but determined voice. “I must go and fix it." Added the young woman, ready to go and help the other spirits, and turning around as if to start walking up to the stairs.

“We talked about this, we both had a part in this, don't take the whole burden." Said Honeymaren, taking Elsa by the arm, "We have been training for this, we can do it together.”

“Honeymaren is right, Elsa." The Ancient One interrupted. “There were several possible futures up to this point, but in all of them Null ended up finding out one way or another about this time, it had to happen, just as the confrontation is destined to be.”

“The spirits, are they in danger?” Asked Elsa, turning to look again into the fog.

“You don't have to worry, when I perceived that the portals had opened and the dimensional energy was flowing erratically disturbing the spell I had placed over the sanctuary to hide us it didn't take long for the spirits to investigate what was happening; we knew what was coming so we made an agreement, they would buy time, but they would withdraw when the situation reached critical levels. Null arrived weakened in this dimension, but he only needs a short time to recover and while the spirits in full strength were able to contain him initially the power of the dark being increases constantly while that of the spirits decreases, we all knew from the beginning that the most they could do in this situation would be to gain time, the rest is up to you.

“How much time do we have before it comes attempting to destroy the sanctuary?”

“Not only will he come for the sanctuary, but for you, its greatest threats, the fifth spirit... and a new Sorcerer Supreme for this dimension.

“What!? I can't be the Sorcerer Supreme, that's you.”

“Not from this dimension, remember? I have to go back to where I belong, training someone who could defend this dimension from Null was my purpose for coming here from the beginning. Said The Ancient One, with her usual calm and wise tone.

“You’re right." Honeymaren said, a bit worried.

“You’ll do great Honey, I know you will." Elsa said, holding the hand of the young sorcerer.

“Most likely Null will be here in a day, by the moment when my time here is up, I don't have the power to stretch the time in the sanctuary anymore, but I can extend that time a little longer with one last trick up my sleeve." The Ancient One said, concentrating on casting a spell.

"Wait, we knew you couldn't intervene for reasons we still can't know, but won't you be able to see the outcome? Honeymaren asked.

"I'm afraid that can't be." The Ancient One said, breaking her concentration. When the time comes I will have waited as long as possible to get back to where I belong, you will understand before I leave," The Ancient One added, and then conjured the mirror dimension in front of them and went into it. The young women shared a confused look for a moment and then followed her.

"Nothing here affects the real world, does it? Honeymaren asked, who despite having known the mirror dimension had never conjured it at the request of her teacher.

"That's right, in this place the spiritual power spreads almost unlimitedly, using it sooner would have increased the chance of Null finding you, but now it knows where you are and concentrates his energy on reaching the sanctuary so he will not come to attack you on this plane.”

"Can we train a little longer here?” Elsa asked.

"That's right, remember not to part with Honeymaren, only she can get you out of here through a portal.” The young women nodded to that comment. “I have delimited a small section of the mirror dimension to the space that encompasses the sanctuary, using the magic that I still have; in this situation I estimate that I will be able to double Null's original arrival time. You'll have the time equivalent to two days, make the most of it from now on." The Ancient One said with great security in her voice.

"Thank you," Honeymaren said.

"We won't miss this opportunity," Elsa said.

"I know you won't, now listen, there are things you need to prioritize. Elsa...”

"Yes?"

“Your magic can overcome others, that will be your most important skill against Null and the influence its magic could have on everything around it, in addition to its obvious ability to attack you, focus on that.

"Sure," Elsa said, paying attention to the indication.

“Honeymaren.”

“Yes master?”

"That Eye of Agamotto is not special just because of the ancient and powerful relic it is, you probably found something irregular when you studied it." The Ancient One said.

"I think I did... in the bookstore I found two books, with two different descriptions of the Powers of the Eye despite talking about the same relic.

The Ancient One was pleased to hear those words from Honeymaren.

Your dimension is located right in the middle of two others where the function of the relic differs, this dimension is a special case, a meeting point, and because of that this Eye of Agamotto can exercise the power of both surrounding dimensions; I rarely got to see this on my multiverse travels.

"Is that possible?... I mean, clearly it is, but the odds are...”

“Remember, it doesn't all have to make sense.

"You’re right...”

“Control over the Time and the Mystical Arts of Light; that's a huge power, you have to use it responsibly and continue to constantly strengthen your skills to deal with any threat.

"I will do it; you can take it for granted." Honeymaren said decisively.

"Excellent... now I have to go make the last preparations for my departure." The Ancient One said, conjuring a portal. “As long as you use the mirror dimension in the sanctuary, time will continue to pass slightly slower, yet you don't have much, make it worth it." The Ancient One said, and then disappeared through the portal.


	10. Chapter 10

The young couple knew that they had the equivalent time of two days and began to train hard with one of the techniques that had previously given them the best results, testing their magic against beings created through magical rituals sustained thanks to the power of the sanctuary and that fought adapting to all the knowledge of them embodied in the vast quantity of books that the sanctuary itself possessed. These beings were a faithful imitation in every way of their real counterparts, with the only exception of not doing serious damage on the physical plane, but spiritual equivalents, that, even while they would be maintained during training so that the young women could experience the disadvantages of things like wounds and pain and how to deal with them, would disappear at the end of the session, thus avoiding causing damage that would put them at a disadvantage when facing the real threat. Combined with scenarios materialized thanks to the same kind of spell, the combat experience was as close to reality as possible.

After warming up defeating some magical beasts in the forest, the couple found themselves against a chimera, and against the frenzied and wild attacks at short and long distance of the creature the couple learned to keep their guard up at all times, alert to what may come after.

“Chimera!” Elsa yelled, warning Honeymaren to stand back.

"It shouldn't be here so soon, should It?" The young Northuldra asked, preparing to face the beast that had a lion's head, bear's body, and legs and a second head of a goat, as well as tail with a snake's head.

"You casted the illusion spell to make the sanctuary data determined the difficulty, perhaps it judged the lesser beasts to be too little of a challenge for us." Elsa said, then frozen a paw of the beast to the ground as it started to run towards them.

“I got it!” The young sorcerer exclaimed as the cloak lifted her when, to her surprise, the serpentine tail began to spit out poisonous projectiles with great speed and range. “Agh... I should have imagined it.” Said the young woman, watching the poison slip down from the magic circle she conjured as a shield.

The chimera broke the ice that was holding it captive and launched itself at full speed against Elsa, who jumped through some trees to evade it. Being fully focused on its prey the creature didn’t realize that the young Northuldra had caught its hind legs with an energy whip. The beast turned towards the one who limited its movement and it was there when Elsa froze the snake's tail; the creature was enraged and gave a swift leap towards Elsa, almost catching up to her, but narrowly missing as it began to soar in midair; the cape and Honeymaren had joined forces to lift it up and then used its own weight as an impulse to spin it faster and faster until it was thrown against one of the largest trees in the forest, filling the place with the sound of the creaking of large branches.

"Wow... I think I overdid it," Honeymaren said back on the floor, her legs wobbling as she tried to stay on her feet.

"Are you dizzy?" Elsa asked, holding her up.

“A bit.”

The conversation was suddenly cut short when the sound of the wood breaking could be heard again, indicating that the beast was coming back to lunge at them.

"I'm better, don't worry." Honeymaren said, channeling magical energy over herself to recover faster.

"Okay, let's get on with this." The young Queen said, putting herself in combat position as the chimera came quickly towards them.

Being a few meters away, the creature made a quick jump in the direction of the girls, Elsa took a step backwards, lengthening the distance between them, but Honeymaren remained firm, reinforced her body with magic, directing even more to her right fist, making it glow orange, and when the chimera was over her she dealt a strong blow to its jaw that not only stopped its momentum, but made it fall backwards abruptly.

“Honey! Wow! I didn't know you could do that!” Elsa said, returning to the brown skinned girl’s side.

"Even I wasn't sure." The young Northuldra replied with a laugh. Both girls shared a few seconds of laughter when...

“Watch out!” Elsa said raising an ice barrier against which several venom projectiles hit, the beast seemed to resent the blow, but the snake tail was back in action.

"We need to be more careful." Honeymaren said.

Elsa nodded and then reinforced her hands with ice while her partner did so with magic.

The creature rose disoriented, but suddenly had a comeback as if adrenaline pumped back into it and it lashed out at the ice barrier, tearing it apart and going after the girls, who evaded the beast's paws and kicks and hit its body with solid blows that made it hinder. The pair took turns in front of and behind of the creature, facing different heads and limbs and spinning to keep them at bay instead of fighting statically. When the chimera began to slow down Elsa saw a window in its defenses, freezing the snake tail that kept them at bay with projectile attacks and as the beast turned toward the young woman with the powers of the ice the young Northuldra made the frozen limb disappear with a powerful kick. The beast let out an erratic, anger-laden roar that disoriented the young women because of the pain in her ears and then gave a big kick with its hind legs that pierced Elsa’s ice barrier, hitting her in an arm and causing her to lose her balance and fall.

"Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted recovering as the creature pounced on the young Queen.

The young blonde reacted by reflection and unleashed much of her power directed with both hands towards the beast, freezing it completely and almost instantly the icy figure blew into pieces shattered by a large magical projectile of her girlfriend.

"Wow... That was close." Elsa said slightly animated as Honeymaren helped her get up by her hands.

"Very close... we must have a plan in case of disorientation." Honeymaren said, tenderly massaging Elsa's arm, despite knowing that the pain magically inflicted would disappear in a few seconds as the exercise was over.

"Thank you." Elsa said, and they both shared a loving look for a few seconds until the stage changed and they found themselves in a different place.

The next training stage was to fight an opponent whose brute force meant avoiding any impact, as it could be catastrophic, so they had to manage better their skills and their analysis of the weaknesses of an opponent who they couldn’t simply attack head on, and strengthen their sense of spatial location.

"Where could we be now?” Honeymaren asked to the air as she watched from side to side analyzing her surroundings.

The place where the couple now stood looked like a wide Mediterranean style terrain, with wide spaces, shrubs and some concentrations of trees, as far as the view could reach, with what appeared to be some ruins of white rock in the distance on a hill and on the opposite side a group of mountain formations in the distance.

"I think we should explore the ruins a little bit, maybe there's some clue there." Elsa said.

"I think it's a good idea." Honeymaren said, then took Elsa in her arms and set out flight thanks to the Cloak of Levitation.

"This would take a long time without you, wouldn't it? Elsa said smiling, giving a slight caress to the high neck of the cloak, to which it cheerfully nodded in its own way.

"Don't flatter her too much, I feel she already has a pretty high idea of herself." Honeymaren added, giving the cloak a more personal treatment. After those words the Cloak slowed gradually until it stopped moving. “Alright! This would be much slower and tiring without you, happy?” The cloak did not gesture for an answer, but continued to advance normally after those words.

"Well, let's look for any clues of where we are." Elsa said, once they descended into the ruins and found herself standing again.

"Sure, just don't get too far away." Honeymaren added.

"I won't.”

The young women spent a few minutes exploring the ruins, even moving some fragments with magic, but they couldn't find anything that clearly gave them an idea of their location.

"This place doesn't seem to be going to give us a lot of information, does it?” Honeymaren said as she dropped a large pillar of carved rock.

"Not much, but at least I think I'm sure we're on Greek land." Elsa said, as she saw the base of a broken pillar amid many rubble of what should have been some kind of fence or wall.

"What? How do you know?” Honeymaren asked, stopping by her side.

"Well... Despite spending much of my life locked up my parents made sure I had a good education. I've seen designs like these in paintings and drawings, in books, it seems to be Greek, or if it isn't it surely has a strong influence," Elsa said.

"You're wonderful darling! Knowing that brings us closer to identifying why we're here, give me a few seconds," said the young Northuldra and then rose in the air, very high above where they were.

"Did you see anything? Elsa asked, once her partner descended by her side.

"Two interesting things, first of all, we are on an island, a large one, and the nearest land mass seems to be to the north, secondly, the terrain near the mountains we saw on arrival seems altered, it doesn’t look like the natural aspect the surroundings have, perhaps those mountains hide more than we see.

"Now you're wonderful," Elsa said, smiling at her girlfriend.

"Do you think that... we should investigate the mountains?” Honeymaren asked, slightly blushing.

"Of course!” Elsa said. Honeymaren focused, put on her sling ring and created a portal that would take them to the base of the mountains.

"That keeps impressing me every time, come on!” Elsa said, taking Honeymaren's hand and crossing the portal, taking her girlfriend with her.

"Wow! It looks much bigger up close!” Honeymaren said as she observed the mountain formation in front of them.

"That's right... I wonder how long it would have taken them to dig inside this place... " said Elsa as they looked at the great entrance they had in front of them.

"Oh!” Honeymaren said, paying more attention to the opening on the rock. You're right Snowflake, “this doesn't seem like a natural formation," the dark-haired girl said as she gently passed her hands through the contour of the entrance, that had a consistent and smooth texture.

"Crete!” Elsa exclaimed suddenly.

"What did you say?”

“Crete, a Greek island... the climate, the ruins, even this mountain altered by humans... the sanctuary brought us here for a test, and I think I know what it is.”

"Oh dear... I still have to read a lot more about the world and its history, I don't know if I would have thought about connecting the clues that way, you're wonderful." Honeymaren said, caressing Elsa's cheek.

"Thank you," said the young Queen, lovingly holding the young Sorcerer's hand on her face.

"So why do you think we're here? Honeymaren asked, once they let go of their hands.

"A Minotaur."

“I was a fool, I should have imagined it!” Honeymaren said, taking her hands to her hair.

"Don't reprimend yourself for it, I know what it's like to be locked up for much of your life, in your case it was even more complicated to never leave the forest or have connection to what was outside, there will be time to know more about the world, besides, Ancestral gave me different books to read, it was thanks to them that I connected some clues, I think it was her plan that we complemented this way," Elsa said.

"Thank you Snowflake," Honeymaren said, smiling cheerfully, feeling that her girlfriend cared as much as she felt, even with small things that worried her. Elsa just smiled back warmly, as to confirm what her partner was feeling. “So a Minotaur... then... if I remember well what I read... this must be the entrance to a labyrinth.

"That's right... that adds another problem besides facing the creature, we must not get lost, let alone separate." Elsa said.

“According to legend... who beat it managed to get out following a string that a princess gave him, didn't he?” Honeymaren asked.

"That's right... it will also be important to plan a method to get out," Elsa said, putting her hand on her chin while thinking, Honeymaren crossed her arms and began to do the same.

"I could mark the walls with magic... but if we find ourselves in combat, it might be hard to find the time to leave a mark, or read it*" the Northuldra girl said.

"The same applies to trying to leave ice marks," Elsa said.   
  


The young women kept thinking for a few minutes, until the Snow Queen had a more convincing idea.

"I got it! Elsa said triumphantly.

"What did you come up with? Honeymaren asked excitedly.

"I can leave frozen marks when walking, wherever I stand, even if I'm fighting or running away, I think it's the best idea because it doesn't need attention or special time to do it," Elsa said, taking a few steps around and leaving ice where she walked, apparently without making minimal effort.

"It's perfect!” Honeymaren said. You're doing everything this time, let me help a little," she added with a smile.

"It's not a competition," Elsa said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "We're a great team, now let’s go! we've got another creature to defeat," she added, walking to what they now knew was the entrance to a maze built on the mountain rock.

"Wait, don't get away from me in there," Honeymaren said, standing on par with her girlfriend.

"I won't," the young lady of Arendelle replied, and so they both went into the mountain.


	11. Chapter 11

When the girls entered the labyrinth, they noticed that the light was less and less as they advanced, the walls were carved out of rock, and when they reached the first intersection, three paths appeared before them, in an area held up by thick, irregularly shaped columns.

“We shouldn’t go any further until we have solved the illumination problem." Said Elsa.

“I think the same thing, we are not the first to be here, even if we consider their construction; there must be some means by which they illuminated the place to work, some static means, torches would be impractical in the long run." Said Honeymaren, illuminating a little with a magic circle which she conjured over her right hand.

Elsa created a column of ice with several folds in different directions, maximizing light reflection and further illuminating the area where they were.

“This won't work... even maximizing the light the ice can reflect will do little good later where there’s barely any light at all." Said a disappointed Elsa.

“Don't worry Snowflake, we'll find a solution.” Said Honeymaren, who was still exploring the area. “I've got it!” The Northuldra girl, shouted excitedly near one of the rock columns.

“What is it?” Asked Elsa, who rushed to her side.

“Do you see that cleft in the protruding edge of the rock?” Said Honeymaren, illuminating the column more closely with her magic circle. “Doing that is usually a rudimentary way to make stationary lamps, often for emergencies; you carve a small slit, put some material that burns brightly, and bam! you have rudimentary light.”

“But what can we use as fuel? I don't remember seeing anything that could be used for that purpose here.” Said Elsa, excited but also full of doubts.

“Hmm, good question.” Said the young Northuldra, thinking for a few seconds. “I know!” She exclaimed, putting her hand on Elsa's shoulder, “Can you make an ice bowl for me?” She said, indicating the approximate size with her hands.

“Sure," said Elsa, creating a big bowl and giving it to her partner, although she was somewhat doubtful as to why she wanted it.

“Let’s go” It will only take a minute!” Said Honeymaren, taking the bowl in one hand and Elsa's hand in the other, and heading back to the exit of the maze cave.

“Why are we outside again?” Asked Elsa once they were again in front of the entrance to the place.

“I thought I heard a buzzing sound around here when we arrived.”

“Buzzing?”

“Yes, there must be bees nearby, help me look!”

“Okay...” Said Elsa even more puzzled.

A few minutes went by as she walked around where there were trees until finally the Snow Queen found a big comb.

“¡Honey!” Shouted the white skinned girl.

“You found them! -Thank you, Snowflake!” Said the young sorcerer as she descended to her side, and then carefully picked up parts of the comb where she saw less movement until the bowl was full, plus some tiny twigs.

“What will you do with that?”

“You'll see." Said the brown skinned girl, quickly lighting a fire with some branches she took from the ground and magic, and then magically strengthening the bowl so that it wouldn't melt when placed over the flame.

In a matter of a few minutes Honeymaren melted and processed the fragments of the comb, reinforced the wooden sticks with other materials she found among the trees, and rose ready to return to the cave.

“Now we have liquid beeswax and some wicks." Said Honeymaren, carrying the bowl with both hands.

“That was impressive, I didn't know it worked that way." Said the Blonde girl, following her partner back to the cave.

“Well, every day you can learn something new, you've taught me a lot today after all.” Said the brunette girl, then both smiled and went on their way. 

Back in the cave Honeymaren poured some of the wax into the cleft she had found in the rock to be used as a lamp.

“Put your hand on the rock and freeze it a bit while you hold a wick in place with the other, so that it will become relatively solid," said Honeymaren, holding the bowl in one hand and giving Elsa the wicks she had prepared.

The young Queen did just as her girlfriend said and the result was as expected. Once the wax had solidified, Honeymaren conjured up a small spark and the candle began to light up gently around her. Elsa created some crystals in the right angles surrounding the lamp and managed to extend its light considerably.

“Excellent work!” Said Honeymaren.

“Only because of you!” Replied Elsa, and then the girls lit a few more lamps in that chamber.

“Which tunnel should we take?” Asked Elsa as the girls stood in front of the three entrances and the wax bowl floated behind them thanks to Honeymaren’s magic.

“The three look identical, I think we'll have to go to trial and error this time, if we come to a dead end we can go back to the beginning with the marks you'll leave as you walk.” The Northuldra girl said. 

"I think that’s the best choice, let's do it!”

The first path the young women followed led them to a dead end quickly; they returned as planned and the second path took them further into the labyrinth, until they reached another cross-shaped intersection, where they again chose carefully and reached a third intersection, and a fourth, until more than an hour had passed between roads, returns and re-beginnings from a certain point; finally when they reached an intersection with six possible paths they decided to rethink their strategy.

"I don't think it's the best thing to decide at random at this point *, but I don't want to spent a lot of time thinking either." Honeymaren said, while they were in front of the new possible routes to follow.

"I agree, there has to be some way to speed this up." Elsa said.

"I have an idea!" Honeymaren said, regaining some enthusiasm. "I will conjure an amplification spell at the entrance of each new tunnel, then you can shoot a large freezing burst that when amplified will freeze all the edges of the corridor by a long distance, finally I’ll throw a gem through each corridor with a spell that will allow me to perceive its movement; the rocks that stop moving abruptly with a dry blow will tell me that the corridor has no exit, those whose speed gradually decreases until stopping will indicate a corridor with more stretch to go... I know that the wall bounces at the turns turn will slow the gems down, but it won't be the same as stopping abruptly or bouncing in the opposite direction, so they'll give us a good guide. In addition, the magic impulse I’ll give them will help them move for longer and transmit some of the features around their path.

"I like the idea, I'm ready when you are!” Elsa said.

Faced with the positive response of her partner Honeymaren conjured large magic rings in front of each of the entrances that were in the place.

"Here I go." Elsa said, standing in front of the first entrance and immediately launched a large freezing burst that, as Honeymaren said, was amplified as it crossed the magical ring, generating a thick layer of ice across all the edges of the corridor as far as the eye could see.

“It worked! And I barely made an effort!” Elsa said excited to see the result. 

"I knew you'd make it! This way we can avoid wasting a lot of energy before it's absolutely necessary!” Honeymaren said. 

"I did it thanks to you. Now let's go! I feel like we still have a long way to go." Elsa said while she went towards the next ring.

Using the new method the young women traveled more in thirty minutes than they had achieved in the last hour, Honeymaren lit the lamps carved in the cave and Elsa continued to leave a frozen trail while walking, so their path was illuminated and free of uncertainty, fully facilitating the structure whose legend was feared throughout the region.

"We must be close, we have advanced a great stretch, the only thing that strikes me is that we have not heard anything... not a single sound, nor any sign of another presence; in a place as quiet as this we should be able to hear anything that happened in a considerable area around us." Honeymaren said, a little worried as she felt like an occasional mild burst of fresh air went into the place, refreshing it a little bit and also taking her a little bit out of her concentration.

"In all our time here I haven’t felt the air coming from any direction that isn’t behind us, as it is to be expected this place probably has only one entrance and that is why the weather must be a constant; such a site would be very beneficial for various animals and plants, the fact that it is so sterile must mean that there is still something here that keeps everything out, preventing any being from settling in this place, we must stay alert." Elsa said for sure, recalling some things she had learned in his studies.

"You're right, besides this creature has hunted its victims on this site for a life, it must have its own ambush techniques." Honeymaren said, then conjured a magic ring in front of the entrance of one of the three paths in front of them. 

"Another reason not to let us guard down." Elsa said as she shoot a freezing blast.

When the corridor went frozen Honeymaren threw a gem as she had been doing for already much of the way, then closed her eyes to feel its progress through the corridor, but something caught her attention.

“Hng.”

"What's going on?” Elsa asked because of the complaint her partner let out.

"The gem collided with something, bounced, but then it picked up momentum, its movement, its speed, its direction, something doesn't fits, it's like... ah!” The Northuldra girl was saying when she interrupted her speech to let out a scream. 

"What's going on?” Elsa asked, worried, putting her hands on Honeymaren's shoulders, who looked somewhat bewildered.

"Something destroyed the gem, it was on purpose and with great force, the gem was reinforced, there is no natural way for it to happen, the creature must be there and now knows where to find us.”

Hearing that Elsa turned around and began to create a thick layer of ice that obstructed the corridor where the beast was, trying to win at least a little time before the confrontation.

"Well thought out." Honeymaren said, with a determined look on her face, observing the place where they were from side to side.

The area where the girls ran into the beast was wide, the chamber was approximately sixty meters wide and only a little less long, there were several partially carved rock columns scattered throughout the area, some with lamps, gently illuminating everything. The roof was slightly high, perhaps about twenty meters and the terrain was relatively even.

"We're lucky we didn't run into the minotaur in a corridor, the maneuverability there would have been a nightmare." Honeymaren said.

"You're right," Elsa replied, quickly creating some ice structures that efficiently reflected the light of the lamps, illuminating the place as much as possible.

A couple of minutes after the gem was shattered, something crashed sharply into the ice, instantly causing cracks to appear.

"Here it comes, remember what we've practiced, we must attack together, complement our movements." Honeymaren said, as her fists began to glow orange because of the great magical energy she concentrated on them.

"Count with it!" Elsa said, standing next to her companion and in turn reinforcing her fists with thick ice gauntlets.


	12. Chapter 12

Shortly after the first contact with the creature, the ice barrier Elsa had created exploded and the Minotaur entered the chamber where the couple was, bellowing aggressively. The being was eye-repellent, large, easily reaching over two meters even without counting the large pair of horns protruding from its head, and being a large mass of muscles with humanoid look and head and limbs showing bovine features. Likewise, it was covered in some form of fur, in some places thicker than others, and some rags, surely remnants of what they once used to cover it before locking it eternally in the maze. Finally, its eyes looked empty, misplaced, lost, as if the beast was empty of anything other than animal instinct, seemingly humanoid in appearance only, perhaps the whole place and even the beast were a magical creation, but right now they were real, as real as magic itself could make them, putting together all the knowledge the sanctuary possessed, and that beast, that creation they were about to face, had been as terrifying in life as it was at the time.

"Try to be careful with the weapon it carries," Honeymaren said, paying attention to the creature's right hand, which seemed to be dragging a large elongated chunk of rock, which it had surely been using as a mallet for a long time, judging by the way the creature's hand seemed to fit perfectly with the marks in the stone.

"I will, and I hope you do the same." Elsa said.

“I will.”

The minotaur bellowed again and then pounced aggressively against the young women who jumped in opposite directions just seconds before the rock mallet opened a large hole where they were standing. Immediately the creature began to snort and bellow again, reacting to the lights, and without thinking twice unleashed its fury against Elsa's ice creations and the columns that had lamps, making the place darker and darker.

"We can’t allow it to leave us in the dark." Elsa said, again next to Honeymaren as she saw the being concentrate on everything that radiated light.

"I agree, it's time to attack." Honeymaren said.

The couple quickly approached the maddened beast, changing their approach routes shortly before they were in its attack range, so that it couldn’t have both in its sights at the same time. Elsa froze the beast's mallet to the ground before it raised it for another attack, this caught its attention, and brutally breaking the ice it began to run towards the Snow Queen, it was there when the young Sorcerer unexpectedly came over its side striking a heavy blow to its head that caused it to drop its weapon and land on its back.

"Ouch! Its skull is harder than I thought, I must strengthen myself more.” Honeymaren said, moving away to the side to get out of the minotaur's attack range.

"Great hit!" Elsa shouted, Honeymaren just nodded to where her girlfriend was.

When the creature began to show movement Elsa quickly approached, freezing its weapon, and when the being used its arms to steady its body and get up Elsa slid on a small ice ramp, picking up speed and then jumping and planting a great blow against its face, returning it to the ground, and immediately creating another ice ramp that would take her to a safe distance.

“Excellent!” Honeymaren shouted, to which Elsa also responded with a nod.

Then, unexpectedly, the creature gave a great bellow and got up abruptly, snorting in fury, grabbed it weapon and pulled it off the ground, breaking the ice with almost no difficulty, and headed towards where Elsa was standing. Seconds later, shimmering whips of magical energy tangled in its legs causing it to fall and complain again, increasingly annoyed. When the whips disappeared it got up again, this time violently charging with its waepon at where Honeymaren was.

“I got this!” Elsa shouted, launching a great blast of ice from behind the beast.

Although the beast's body seemed mostly frozen, its movement did not slow down,* getting to Honeymaren quickly and catching her slightly off guard. The young woman jumped when she saw that the mallet of rock was coming against her evading it, but the free fist of the creature took her by surprise, throwing her through the air a few meters until the cloak compensated for the impulse, stopping her.

"Honey are you okay?" Asked Elsa, who had rushed out of concern and was now standing underneath the young woman, whom the cloak lowered to the floor when she saw Elsa nearby.

"Yes, I'm fine, the blow didn't hit me with all it’s might," the brunette girl said, rubbing her left side with her right hand.

"I'm sorry, it was my mistake." Elsa said worried, putting her hand where her girlfriend was hurt, and worrying even more as her body shuddered with pain when she touched her.

"It wasn't your mistake! Do not worry! Stay alert!” Honeymaren said in a tone of nervousness and perhaps slight discomfort, although it was really due to the pain she felt and tried not to express.

Soon the floor began to vibrate again, and the creature could be seen a dozen meters away, appearing behind a column.

"Honey, let me," Elsa said, standing in front of her partner, thinking of facing the minotaur.

"Elsa, we must continue according to plan," the Northuldra girl said, putting her hand on the white skinned girl's shoulder. "Go in the opposite direction, I'll stay here and continue with our strategy.

Elsa only stared doubtfully at Honeymaren after that indication, at that moment the beast began to run annoyed towards the couple.

"I'll go in the other direction, steal it’s attention, attack it when its distracted." Honeymaren said, seeing that her partner didn’t not want to separate, and then she flew fast toward the creature, passing over it and taking it from its horns, then she boosted herself with a strong magical burst towards the floor, nailing the creature's head on the rock and then moving back to the air.

Elsa tried to shake off the thoughts of concern and rushed quickly towards the minotaur that gradually released its head from the ground, leaping into the air while nearby and then falling with a large hammer of her own creation that would break by crashing hard against the back of the being, causing it to fall flatly against the floor.

Honeymaren took the opportunity to levitate the beast's weapon away, causing it to fall to one of the farthest sides of the chamber in which they were located. The two girls gathered in the center of the place as the beast broke free, and once it did and didn’t find its weapon at its side it became enraged, screaming, bellowing and charging again against them, who separated in opposite directions soon before it arrived, causing it a greater anger at the indecision of which to follow, and during that brief moment * of doubt both girls concentrated great magical energy and then attacked the creature with long distance projectiles. Solid pieces of ice and highly concentrated energy spheres rained down on the beast causing strong impacts that moved its body violently from side to side until it fell on its knees.

While the minotaur seemed to take a while to recover Honeymaren flew quickly to Elsa’s side.

"It has taken a lot of damage and still doesn't seem close to being defeated, it's like if it is absorbing the damage and getting ready to fight after a brief recovery." The young sorcerer said, breathing fast as her partner.

"If we keep this up we’ll just end up exhausted, there must be another way to defeat it, maybe we should try to fight more directly." Elsa said, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"Do you want to go hand-to-hand against a minotaur? Honeymaren asked, seeing her partner with a confused look while settling her hair.

"Maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea, we have agility on our side... perhaps only a great deal of continuous damage will end it, if given time to recover it seems almost to return to its original strength no matter how much damage it has taken." Elsa said.

After those words the minotaur rose, shook its head and legs and prepared to pounce against them again.

"Go, I’ll freeze the floor! Elsa said, Honeymaren nodded and took flight and as the beast approached the Snow Queen she did just what she said, causing the minotaur to slide quickly and crash into a wall, breaking the tip of one of its horns.

"Great move!" Shouted Honey, suspended in the air.

"Thank you!”

The minotaur rose angry and as it wiggled its head savagely it saw that its rock mallet was near, so it went to take it.

"Don't worry, we'll take it back." Honeymaren shouted flying towards the creature, who lashed out at her multiple times once it had her close, yet with to the cloak, the young sorcerer was faster than those attacks as long as she kept aware of each of them.

Elsa ran towards the creature and concentrated her powers on throwing a freezing burst against one leg, freezing it and creating a thick layer of ice around it that was attached on the floor, limiting its movement. When the creature was distracted Honeymaren magically reinforced her right fist and flew with great speed towards it; when she was nearby she folded her right arm and turned her body over her waist, preparing to strike a big blow when she felt a severe pain in her left side.

"Ugh." The brunette girl let out a groan, an accidental sound that alerted the beast, and without thinking twice, it lunged at the girl who was suspended in midair, making her slam into the wall, ending up inside a hole that her impact created.

“Honey!” Elsa shouted worried and at that sound the minotaur now turned its attention to her, striking the floor just a few centimeters from the young woman, who jumped on its mallet and from there to its head, holding on to a horn and putting its other hand against the creature's skull, releasing as much magic as it could, thus freezing the being's head, which, under pressure from the thrust of the young woman's arms, ended up giving way, breaking through the neck and smashing against the floor.

The creature's body fell limp and Elsa rushed to the side of her beloved, who was already lying motionless on the floor, apparently having fallen as she wanted to pull herself free of the wall. The cloak beside her, but detached from her, moved her gently, achieving only small responses from the young woman's limbs and occasional sounds.

“Honey! Honey! Please talk to me!” Elsa said, carefully taking the girl in her arms and sobbing when she saw her beloved in such a state, with a badly battered face and a small trickle of blood running down her mouth.

"Elsa." The young sorcerer said with difficulty.

"Why doesn't this end ?! We should go back to the training room! The damage should go away! “ Elsa was saying.

"Try it." Honeymaren said lightly, and Elsa quickly understood what she meant, healing magic, the one she had been studying but never practiced on a person.

The Snow Queen was unsure of using her magic to try to heal her girlfriend, with the spirits she never needed to separate the spiritual side of her magic from the freezing side, since when she used both they reacted to her magic curing themselves of their ills; even so, the repercussions of combining both things in a bad way on a person were very present in her memory for what she did to Anna, but still, having the one she loved so much hurt in her arms made her quickly understand that it was not the time to doubt it, she should try.

Elsa relaxed with a couple of breaths, concentrated to potentiate the level of magic in her body, closed her eyes and then gradually approached her face to Honeymaren, giving her a delicate kiss on the lips, a slow, loving kiss, loaded with magic, which made a thin layer of ice, crystalline and slightly shiny, appear on her girlfriend's face and then on her body, as it continued its smooth course indicating that the healing magic of the Snow Queen worked on her beloved. That kiss, magical in more than one way, continued for a few minutes in which the lips of the young sorcerer were increasingly involved; soon after, her healed body would take part and her hands would go to the young Queen's waist and nape, respectively, continuing without mattering if the healing was over.

When the girls finally became aware of their surroundings after an affectionate romantic moment, they realized that they were back in the sanctuary, lying on the floor of the training room.

“Oh! We’re back!” Elsa said nervously.

"So it seems." Honeymaren said, covered in what appeared to be a slight layer of dew, standing up and helping her partner to do the same, then hugging her. Thanks for healing me, sorry for worrying you that way, I should have been more careful.” Added the young woman as they hugged each other.

“Please, do it… I don't know what I would do if something happens to you.”

"I can say the same for you." Honeymaren said, taking and caressing her girlfriend's hands as they parted, then lovingly releasing them, planting a kiss on both of them, which made the snow-white girl blush.

“I think that the sanctuary considered that it was time for you to use your healing powers in a “real” situation and took advantage of the occurrence to force it; I don't love feeling pain of that kind, but you've improved that skill incredibly, and to achieve that I would do it again.” Honeymaren said, slightly changing the subject, as if to spare Elsa the embarrassment from her blush.

“Please no.”

"Don't worry, I don't plan to do it at will." Honeymaren said, touching her left side, as if she was pleased that the pain had completely disappeared and at the same time worried that she had felt something like that.

"Just ... take care please." Elsa said more calmly.

"Although, for a kiss like that I could get a little hurt from time to time." Added the young brunette in a laughing tone.

“You are the worst!” Elsa said smiling and recovering the blush that was barely fading from her cheeks.

The girls rested a bit in the room until they felt fresh to be able to enter a fight again, after all they had the hours counted before facing Null, they had to recover soon, learn from their mistakes and end any obstacle that was put in front of them.


	13. Chapter 13

The next beast that would confront the young couple in their training would force them to develop their mastery of all their senses to the fullest in order to recognize their environment, the position and attacks of their opponent, working hard to decrease their dependence on one sense.

“Wow, it's good to be in a nice place for a change!” Elsa said once Honeymaren activated the power of the sanctuary again and it transported them to their new training destination.

The pair stood in a clearing in a large, dense forest, most of the trees were tall, although there were some young growing trees, plus some shrubs and even some flowers; the ground was mainly covered with grass except for a few dirt tracks, and there was moss growing on some rocks and tree trunks. The atmosphere was calm, and a gentle, flattering breeze added to that calmness.

“It's nice, but we mustn't be too confident, appearances can be very deceiving." Said Honeymaren.

The couple advanced a few meters through the forest, carefully following a dirt track, but hidden in case whatever was using that track was nearby.

“Something must come up sooner or later, such a path is formed by the constant transit the place has had after all." Said Honeymaren, sitting and leaning against a large fallen log which they bumped into as they went along, so that if anything passed on the path it wouldn’t see them. 

“Don't you think this is not the time to relax?” Said Elsa, standing beside her partner. 

“Each hunt is different Snowflake, this time the terrain is very large and somewhat dangerous, surely it is full of hiding places where anything the sanctuary has prepared for us could see us before we see it and attack, but waiting in a safe place until we have enough information could give us the advantage and the element of surprise." Said Honeymaren, as she indicated with her hand in the grass the place for Elsa to sit beside her; the girl from Arendelle only sighed and did as her Northuldra girlfriend indicated.

“I think you're making sense, but then we should be watching, not resting" said Elsa as she sat beside her partner, leaning her back against the trunk.

“Snowflake, sometimes you have to wait a whole day during a hunt for the prey to appear, trying to stay fully alert all that time wears you out, and if you get tired you can make mistakes which reveal your position." Honeymaren said as she settled down and laid her head on Elsa's lap. “We just have to pay a little extra attention to any sound or movement we perceive." Added young Northuldra, to which the Arendellian girl only sighed again, somewhat hesitantly but understanding that that is what they would do, besides, she could not move from there with Honeymaren resting on her lap, the best she could do was to be patient and concentrate on not blushing.

Some quiet moments passed, eventually the young Queen was able to rest a little, that is until the sign they were waiting for appeared.

“What was that?” Elsa said as she woke up after hearing the sound of rustling branches.

“Lower your voice." Honeymaren whispered, sitting beside her and covering her mouth with her hand.

“I shouldn't have fallen asleep." Elsa said with regret.

“Nothing interesting has happened for a few minutes." The young sorcerer said, glancing over the trunk.

“What's the matter?” Asked Elsa, preparing to look over the trunk as well.

“No! Don't look over! It's dangerous." Honeymaren said, exalted but still quiet.

“Why?” Elsa asked, confused.

“The creature is far away, but I don't want to risk you in the slightest, according to what I read its gaze can kill instantly." Said the young Northuldra, making her companion somewhat nervous.

“What are we talking about, Medusa?”

“No, but I think the level of danger is similar, a basilisk, a large one, they are commonly discovered and exterminated when they are young, but this seems to be one of the rare specimens that managed to grow, it must be about twenty meters long. Its poison is deadly, it is said that even its breath is deadly, and that its look is instantly lethal." Said Honeymaren. 

"A basilisk... I never thought I'd see one up close.”

"You don’t have to see it, remember?”

"You're right, sorry, it was just a way of saying things, but without seeing it, how are we going to fight it? And why are you looking over there and forbidding me to do it? The young Queen asked, somewhat confused by the contradictory behavior of her partner.

"It's something experimental." Honeymaren said, sitting next to her partner again. "I'm concentrating almost all the magic I have in my eyes, trying my best to create a shield against the magic of the basilisk, but it's not certain that it will work, besides, if we approach we'd need a shield for our whole body, since we should be protected not only from its gaze, but from its poison and breath too, even of any secretion the creature has. I can keep this for a while, I could even do it for both of us, but; keeping it and fighting, that sounds harder." Honeymaren added, taking The Eye of Agamotto with her right hand.

"Do you think the Eye can help us?

"Death caused by the eyes of the beast must be some kind of inherited curse, something of mystical origin, and if so there are few things that can be compared in power to the Eye of Agamotto, even more to the version of our universe. I think trying will be our best option." Honeymaren said, rising and opening The Eye of Agamotto, then the power rings appeared on her forearms.

"What do you have in mind?” Elsa asked, standing up.

Honeymaren conjured a magic symbol with the spell she thought would give them protection and then quickly levitated it to Elsa's chest, disappearing when it touched it and giving it a slight green glow for a couple of seconds.

"I have placed a spell of protection upon you, aided in large part by the power of the white magic of this relic, and I will do the same with me." The young sorceress said as she replicated the same magic circle and then attracted it to disappear over her chest, giving her body a slight green glow for a few seconds too.

"So we're ready to go after the creature?” Elsa asked.

"Not yet." Honeymaren said, now forming a large magic circle on the floor on which they were standing, with a complex structure symbol that later seemed to duplicate and one of its halves ascended vertically until having both inside some kind of cylinder, then, at the signal of Honeymaren, they released a great deal of energy as they disappeared, concentrating that energy in both of them too.

"What was that?” Elsa asked, after she merely watched surprised and proud the great skills in the mystic arts that her partner demonstrated.

"That was a second spell to protect us from those non-mystical threats, such as its venom, even if it has a mystical side the physical side of a powerful venom as in any snake still remains, so protection will be much needed, but we must not let down our guard, we must avoid to the maximum having any kind of contact with the creature.

"I find this protection magnificent, thanks Honey, although I have a doubt, how will we defeat it if we should avoid approaching it?

"It's something we'll have to figure out, not all threats can be faced at close range, that... it's something we need to keep in mind." Honeymaren said with a more serious tone while touching her left side.

"You're right, Honey," Elsa said, hugging her girlfriend from behind. “The last thing I want is for you to be in danger." Elsa said in a comforting voice, while the dark-haired young woman rested on her shoulder.

"I feel the same for you." Honeymaren said, holding the Snow Queen's hands around her waist. “Now come on, we have another beast to defeat." Honeymaren said after spending a few seconds in that comfortable embrace.

"Sure." Elsa said, and followed her partner to the dirt road.

"When I experimented with magic in my vision I could see further than I ever could, the basilisk is in this direction, it seems to have an underground lair, quite possibly it will be another scenario like the caves, the unfortunate thing is that I do not think the corridors are much thicker than what the creature needs to transit, fighting in there would be extremely dangerous." Said Honeymaren as they walked.

"You're right... being in such a small space would make fighting almost impossible.

"That's right." Honeymaren said, stopping and turning to Elsa. “From now on it’s just a third of the way left, I will take you in my arms and levitate low to try not to be heard or seen, a basilisk is famous even for hunting birds in flight, making them fall with its gaze or spitting its poison.”

"Good idea." Elsa said, taking the hand Honeymaren offered, and then the young sorcerer held her in her arms like a princess, then levitated slowly and cautiously toward the entrance to the beast's lair.

"We are here." Honeymaren whispered, bringing her partner down behind a large rock in another forest clearing, where several dozen meters around all the vegetation was dead and the floor was just inert land, marked with some bones of unfortunate creatures that had been the food of the basilisk in the past. Right in the center of that clearing was a large hole, no doubt the entrance to the creature's lair.

"We must approach carefully." Elsa said quietly, slowly starting to walk while watching where she put her feet.

"No!" Honeymaren answered quietly but decisively, "I will come in to attract the beast, you wait here to take it off guard when I make it come out.

"I don't like that plan Honey, I don't like how you to put me aside when there's danger, I know you want to protect me, but we're in this together." Elsa said, somewhat upset.

"Sweetie...," Honeymaren said slightly touching Elsa's cheek.

"No, you won't use your charm to get away from this!... I want to go with you." Elsa said, taking her girlfriend's hand away.

“Elsa... I understand you feel that way... If it were another occasion I would accept it, but those tunnels will be too small, if anything went wrong it would catch us both... in this situation separating is really the best option." Honeymaren said calmly, hoping her girlfriend would understand.

After listening to those words and thinking a little Elsa only sighed, with a slightly defeated aura, having understood that Honeymaren was right... at least that time.

"Okay, but you have to promise you won't face it down there, you'll just get it out so we can both deal with it.

"I promise." Honeymaren said.

When their eyes met Elsa put her hand in front of her, stretching her little finger, Honeymaren smiled and did the same and the young women closed the deal by intertwining them, drawing a warm smile on their faces.

"Now go get that basilisk, don't take too long." Elsa said.

"I won't." Honeymaren said, walking around the rock until she stopped after taking a few steps beyond it.

"What's going on?” Elsa asked

"The floor feels... Strange." Honeymaren said, removing some loose earth with her feet, "not just the outer layers, apparently everything from now on is impregnated with it.

"With what?

“Poison... with the Eye of Agamotto we are protected against this, but if it must be constantly fighting the poison part of our magic will be absorbed in that front, diminishing our ability to fight." Said the young woman returning to Elsa’s side behind the rock. “Surely even the air must be poisonous being this close, but the Eye has been protecting us.

"And what would be the solution to be able to use more magical energy in the attack?”

"Dissolving one of the spells, fighting in the dark, blindfolded so as not to worry about her its vision." The young Northuldra said, decidedly.

"I'm not sure... how are we going to see it?”

"Remember the classes on magical perception?”

"Yes.”

"Well, we'll use a small fraction of magic to be sending magic pulses around us, we'll try to ignore our eyes and focus on how that magic travels, against what collides, what things can it penetrate and by perceiving how that magic interacts with the environment we can ‘see’ in a certain way.”

"I think it might work, there's no better time to prove it than now, I guess...." Elsa said somewhat dubious.

Faced with that response Honeymaren projected again the spell circle against the lethal vision of the basilisk and then dissolved it, ending its effect.

"It's done, our protective spell against the basilisk's gaze has been dissolved." Honeymaren said as she took a pair of the cloth bands she was wearing tied to her forearm and giving one to Elsa.

"Cover your eyes with this, they are reinforced with magic, they shouldn’t allow your eyes to see beyond them." The young Northuldra added, making a quick hand movement over both bands, as if activating in them the function she wanted to develop.

"Alright" Elsa said, taking one of the fabric bands and adjusting it around her head to cover her eyes, then Honeymaren covered her own as well.

"I'm here." Honeymaren said, holding Elsa's hand. Maybe the couple couldn't see anything, but their partner's familiar touch was enough to make them feel safe, to make them feel like they were at home.

"Thank you Honey, I suppose, we’ll walk away a little bit to practice? I wouldn't want to go through open ground and have the basilisk see us.

After Elsa’s words the cloak began to move, as if making signs that explained her plan.

"Hey, that wouldn't be a bad idea." Honeymaren said.

"What's the matter, what did she tell you?"

“Well, she can take us back to the woods, at a safe distance, help me get you down at one point and then she'll take me to another, while we practice looking for each other and distinguishing our environment she'll keep an eye on the surroundings from the air, to make sure there's no danger nearby.

"I think that’s an excellent idea." Elsa said, and then Honeymaren approached her, took her in her arms and the cloak took off.


	14. Chapter 14

After a couple of minutes of flight the cloak descended to leave the young Queen at a point in the forest and allow her to begin her training.

"Are you sure we're out of danger here?" Elsa asked.

"Even without seeing I can tell you that I don’t perceive any magical presence nearby, also, I trust that the Cloak of Levitation will maintain a responsible vigilance... don’t worry Snowflake, if I perceive anything suspicious I will be by your side as soon as possible." Said Honeymaren, caressing her partner's hand

"Thank you Honey... you can count on me to do the same for you." Elsa said, also caressing the hand of her beloved.

After giving the girls a bit of time to take the blind separation calmly the cloak flew again, this time to leave Honeymaren at the point from which she would depart for that exercise.

"Thank you." said Honeymaren once her feet touched the forest grass, "Be alert to warn us of any danger, and if the risk is imminent, grab Elsa and take her to a safe place before looking for me." Added the brown skinned girl.

At those words, the cloak moved agitatedly, showing disagreement with the indication of the young sorcerer, who, feeling the conflict of her ally, separated from her, later turning to face her.

“I know you care about me, and I appreciate it, but you must understand that I am in the same situation, I care about Elsa, she is… very important to me; It will be useless to be safe if all I can do is worry about her, if I can count on you to take care of her safety I can focus on defending myself, you know that with the Eye of Agamotto my chances of enduring more time alone are greater.” The young woman said, sure of her words.

The cloak moved slightly from side to side upon hearing the explanation of the one she had decided to serve, as if she was considering her proposal; a little less than a minute later she stopped, nodded, giving off a feeling that she accepted reluctantly, and began to fly, maintaining the necessary height for the surveillance they had agreed upon.

"Well, the time has come." Honeymaren said, preparing herself mentally and physically to focus on her remaining senses and trying not to allow the concern for her girlfriend to distract her.

"I can do it, I must master this." Elsa said, concentrating to use her magic properly.

Both young women began to project their magic around her so that they could feel through it; the trees against which the magic energy that they displayed by their hands collided, the small rocks with which the magic transmitted by their feet to the earth ran into, and everything that was in the air at the moment, their entire environment was noticeable to them, just as if they were looking.

"So far so good." Elsa said, gaining a good sense of her surroundings through the magic waves, and then began to advance. “Oh!” The girl exclaimed when she felt an icy layer under her feet after taking a couple of steps, then slightly raised the bands in front of one of her eyes and could see how several meters around everything was covered in a light layer of ice. That's not right, I must concentrate on just projecting magic energy, not my magic too.” The Snow Queen added for herself, covering the eye that she had uncovered and then taking a few steps forward until she felt soil again.

For her part, the young Northuldra had started as expected, aware of her surroundings almost as if she saw it through her eyes, however, there is something that dismayed her, for just over a second between each magic wave she was blind, it could seem like a little, but in a battle that second could mean everything, so she had to find a way to increase the frequency of the magic she projected around her.

"I feel comfortable at this level, but I need to improve, that little lapse could make a difference." Honeymaren said, sitting cross-legged on the ground to focus on her magic and the way she was using it. "This will do." She said later, picking up some small stones that she sensed around her.

As part of her training the young woman threw a small rock into the air vertically and concentrated as best she could on detecting how much of its movement she could perceive between each magic wave she projected, and how much of the rock's path was lost during the time between each wave.

“Damn, that's almost half, I can't allow this." The brunette girl exclaimed, realizing that she could only observe the position of the rock in the air three times before it fell, a dangerously low number if she were talking about following an object whose goal i1s to hurt her.

After that action, the young woman concentrated a great deal of magical energy in her body and began to project it into closer lapses so that she could maintain control and not get tired or let the magic escape too quickly. Once she felt ready, she continued to throw and retrieve stones for a few minutes, paying great attention to how much of their trajectory she could perceive.

“Good!” Said the young woman once she was satisfied with the result, then, as a last exercise she thought of, she gathered as many small rocks as she could and threw them into the air above her. “Here we go.”

In what was to be the trial by fire the young sorcerer threw magical pulses constantly so that she could clearly perceive the great quantity of rocks in the air and how they were beginning to fall towards her, and in an act of great coordination and foot work she began to evade them, trying at all costs to avoid being touched by any of them, using even her magical power when she felt that any would be impossible to evade in her position. The exercise, which the young woman repeated a few times, always passed without any of the stones touching her, showing that she had finally found the perfect balance to replace her natural vision with magical pulses.

“Perfect! Now I must find Elsa." Said a satisfied Honeymaren, quickening her pace to join her companion.

The Snow Queen had, after a few attempts, perfected separating her magical energy from its magical power itself, no longer freezing everything around her as she projected the waves of magic to perceive it; after that she covered great ground, aware of her surroundings by magic and feeling it through her remaining senses; the grass under her feet, the wind against her face, the scents of wood, water and flowers, the sounds of birds, the leaves of trees as they were caressed by a gentle breeze, the melodious flow of a stream on its way to the pond, all the little details were so clear to her, so much that she began to think that being the fifth spirit had given her a greater connection to the elements than she had thought, ignored before perhaps, because she based herself more on what her eyes saw than on what she could feel around her.

The couple had spent a little more than a couple of hours apart and blindfolded when they simultaneously felt in their chest the undoubted essence of the spiritual energy of their beloved.

“¡Elsa!” The young sorcerer shouted.

“¡Honey!” The Snow Queen replied.

The two ran to meet, and soon found themselves wrapped in each other's arms in a tender and liberating embrace, in which, as they finally felt the body of their beloved beside their own, both could allow the constant concern for each other's well-being to fade away.

“Can we get this off our eyes now?” Elsa asked in the ear of the one to whom her heart belonged.

“Of course, I can't wait to see your pretty face again." Honeymaren said, allowing only a faint thought from many that she had towards the one for whom she would give everything to come out.

The couple broke their sweet embrace and uncovered their eyes, taking a few seconds to get used to the light again and then recognizing before anything else the beautiful features of the face that they wanted to continue seeing when they woke up every morning for the rest of their lives.

“I will never get tired of seeing you blushing." Said Honeymaren with a provocative smile.

“And I'll never tire of seeing what you insinuate with your eyes when you look at me like that." Replied Elsa provocatively, with a gesture and voice that made Honeymaren blush powerfully.

“You weren't supposed to answer back like that." Said Honeymaren nervously, giving a slight nudge to the arm of her beloved, who was only laughing at the reaction she had caused in her.

“Don’t laugh” Honeymaren said laughing, affected by her partner’s contagious laughter.

Both girls began to play around laughing and pushing each other until, holding each other's arms, they fell onto the grass together, ending up with the brown skinned girl on top of the white skinned one. For a moment both remained silent, only looking at each other, allowing themselves to get lost in each other's eyes; until they were distracted by their ally made of enchanted cloth, who, noticing their encounter, had come down to meet them again.

“No! No! You're not interrupting anything!” Honeymaren said, hurrying off to lie down beside Elsa, 'We are just tired and we decided to lie down for a bit.

“Yes, facing the basilisk will be difficult, the best thing is to rest and to arrive in as good a condition as possible.” Added Elsa nervously.

It was clear that The Cloak of Levitation didn’t believe them, the young women could perceive it, but both parties decided to pretend that nothing had happened to continue the training mission as smoothly as possible, the couple rose, the cloak returned to Honeymaren's back and then their journey to the lair of the mythical King of The Serpents began. Once they got behind the rock they had used to hide their first time there it was time for them to review their strategy.

"The plan goes on like the first time, I'll go in, I'll get it out, and while it only has me as target, you'll use the element of surprise to attack it too." Honeymaren said.

"I understand, I still don't like that plan much, but I accept it, just be careful." Elsa said.

"I will, the spell should protect us against the poison, we only have to cover our eyes to avoid its gaze< we must still avoid having direct contact with the poison as much as possible, to have to repel a large amount or a very concentrated one the spell would absorb much of our magical power, weakening us, and quite possibly also limiting our ability to perceive the environment." The young sorceress said, with her band of cloth in her hand, seeing her girlfriend's eyes one more time before covering her own.

"I'll also be careful Honey," Elsa said, smiling at her, knowing that even if she tried to look as prepared and confident as possible Honeymaren would still be worried about her.

The young women smiled, nodded, giving themselves the sign to cover their eyes, and then proceeded to do so.

"I'm going in." Honeymaren said, rising decisively.

"I'll be waiting." Elsa said, doing the same thing.

Both had achieved in their own way a great ability to obtain a clear view of everything that surrounded them through magic, they hold hands, getting more calm feeling their hand against that of their beloved and after giving the signal that they were ready to separate they felt something unexpected.

"Is that what I think?” Elsa said.

"That's right, it's about to come out." Honeymaren said.

"But why? Did it detect us?”

"I doubt it, I think it will come out to hunt, which means it will be more aggressive, we will have to be more careful from the beginning.”

"Understood.”

"Snowflake, change of plan, when the basilisk is out, I'll fly quickly to the other end of this clearing, making me its target, that will give you you an opening to attack it off guard.

"Got it!” Elsa said nodding.

A few seconds later the two could perceive how the great beast came out of its lair, and being half outside its body stood up high, as if it were watching its surroundings closely. The couple wondered if it had detected them, but even if it had the plan wouldn’t change since with the speed of the cloak Honeymaren would easily draw its attention at first, diverting it from Elsa.

The basilisk continued to advance until it came out completely of its lair in the ground and then began to slowly advance with its head upright and the front of the body hunched; it was in attack position, it had clearly detected something strange, the only doubt was how aware it really was of their presence.

"I'll get him!” Honeymaren said, preparing to leave the hideout, Elsa nodded, sure of the plan, and then the young Northuldra acted as fast as possible.

The Cloak of Levitation and Honeymaren made their best efforts and passed quickly to the side of the creature, landing on it several magical projectiles that made it angry, moving its head from side to side, hoping to find its prey. Seeing this Honeymaren remained static in the air, on the opposite side of where Elsa was, and conjured a great lightning bolt on the body of the animal, which caused it erratic and furious muscle movements, and as soon as it had the opportunity it threw poison in the direction of Honeymaren, who conjured a shield against which it collided without causing any danger. The great snake, controlling its movement again, rapidly pounced in the direction of Honeymaren, and accommodating in a flicker its body in the form of "s" pounced with a spring action lifting much of its body through the air, Honeymaren evaded the creature's head and then drew with magical energy a long symbol on its body that was still passing by it due to the inertia of the attack, once the Basilisk fell to the ground and set out to attack again the young sorceress created a magical circle with her hands, and when she interacted with it the great mark she leaved on part of the snake's body took an orange glow, seconds later, when the young woman imploded the magical seal in front of her, the mark burst violently , doing great damage to the beast and leaving much of its outer layer Scorched.

"Don't underestimate the power of a sorceresr," Honeymaren said, seeing that the enraged creature seemed to doubt its next strategy to attack its prey, realizing that it was not in the middle of a common hunt.

In a sudden motion the basilisk threw poison back towards the young sorcerer and when she was covered with her magic shield against the poisonous projectile it lashed out again by throwing its body into the air thanks to its tremendous muscle strength, crashing into the young woman's shield and pushing her several meters through the air by taking her slightly off guard, but not so much as to allow her shield to break.

 _Here I go Elsa_ thought, when having slipped behind the creature, which was completely concentrated in Honeymaren, created a large blizzard, which covered the sun and greatly diminished the creature's ability to see, as well as its ability to perceive the heat of their bodies.

"Great move!” Said the Northuldra girl, landing next to Elsa outside the blizzard.

"Thank you," Elsa said, focused on the situation in front of them, "do you have a plan for what's next?"

“Of course!"

“Tell me everything!”

The young women quickly agreed before the basilisk found a way to leave the blizzard and then didn’t lose a second to put their plan into action. Honeymaren returned to the blizzard and repeatedly provoked the snake with energy discharges, guiding it where it wanted even amid the confusion of the blizzard. The further they advanced the more the blizzard diminished, until the time came when the creature could see Honeymaren on the floor, with a leg apparently stuck in a large block of ice and desperately struggling to free herself. The king of snakes didn’t think twice about seizing the opportunity to wipe out its prey once and for all and pounced itself using all the impulse its body could give it. Honeymaren waited motionless until the last possible moment, when she was able to clearly distinguish the rows of teeth and the sharp fangs on the snout of the creature, that was when the ice disappeared and the young woman, with the help of the cloak, took flight as quickly as possible. The great snake, unable to stop its impulse, found itself falling surprisingly as it attempted to land beyond where its prey was, only to fall into the girl’s trap and throwing itself at full throttle against a cliff whose presence had been hidden by the blizzard. After a few seconds a great roar marked the moment the beast hit the bottom, hitting hard against the uneven rocks of the terrain.

"Excellent performance." Said Elsa, appearing behind Honeymaren, who, after seeing that the plan had worked, went to stand on the edge of the abyss.

"Thank you... although I'm worried about how easy any of us might have fallen for such a trick as well." The young woman replied, taking the bands off her eyes.

“Yes... you're right." Elsa said, doing the same thing.

“We may not have to do it as consistently as we do now, but on any unknown battlefield we have to give ourselves an idea of the ground using our magic just like our eyes, this and many other traps could be fatal if we are taken off guard." Honeymaren said, still looking thoughtfully at the abyss.

"Don't worry Honey, I will, and promise to do it too, okay?” Elsa said, taking her girlfriend's chin and gently directing her face towards hers, until their glances met, taking her out of the trance she was in.

"I will." Honeymaren said, smiling.

Soon after, their surroundings began to fade as the young couple returned to the training room.


	15. Chapter 15

Once back in the sanctuary the sunset light bathed the place and the young women decided to continue quickly so as not to lose the inertia they carried, as they had already rested during the last scenario.

Shortly after Honeymaren re-activated the training room, the young women could feel the water coming up under their feet.

“Give me your hand, the water can be dangerous if we don't know where we're going to appear!” Shouted Honeymaren, Elsa intertwined her hands with the young sorcerer's and after a big flash they both found themselves in the middle of a violent storm on a dark night.

"It's a ship!” Elsa shouted, releasing a hand of Honeymaren to hold on to one of the ropes secured around the mast of the ship on which they had appeared, hoping not to fall and be swept away by the slippery deck that appeared to be constantly bathed by the waves.

"I've never been in one!” Honeymaren shouted, holding Elsa's hand heavily, and the ropes of the main mast with her free hand.

Suddenly a large wave hit the ship's port sharply, throwing the young women against the opposite overboard.

"Are you all right?” Elsa asked, caressing the side with which she hit against the solid wood of the ship and making sure to keep her partner close.

"Yes, don't worry." Honeymaren said, doing the same thing.

Both girls were now soaked and slightly sore, they had to take control of the ship quickly or they would be in trouble.

Elsa turned her gaze to the stern and was able to distinguish the helm by turning erratically as the wind and the movement of the water carried her.

"We must control the ship!” Elsa said, determined to take action as soon as possible, and taking advantage of a small lapse in which the deck remained balanced she ran towards the stairs of the quarter deck.

“Elsa watch out!" Honeymaren shouted as Elsa was about to climb the stairs and a large wave abruptly rocked the ship again, luckily her partner's warning worked and the young Queen held tightly from the railing of the stairs.

Honeymaren rose difficultly and then conjured a spell to improve the grip she had with her limbs, surrounding hands and feet with a strong orange glow that gradually disappeared, and thus, step by step, to prevent the force of the wobble from making her lose her balance and fall, she advanced to where her partner was, still held to the stairs as the ship's dangerously erratic movement had not given a truce.

"Come on, I have no idea how to do this." Honeymaren said, smiling, even in the middle of chaos, as she stood on the stairs next to her beloved.

The pair hold hands and both slowly climbed the stairs as the ship seemed to be going to sink at any time, the sails that were unfolded filled with air at times to stop abruptly at others, worsening the vessel's sudden movement.

"There! Let’s go to the helm! Elsa said pulling her partner through the quarter deck when the floor seemed to remain stable for a moment and before giving time to another surprise she reached the helm and took it firmly, keeping it stable.

"It's working!” Honeymaren said behind her girlfriend's back, watching the ship's direction stabilize.

"That's right!” Elsa said happily, enjoying her momentary victory, though the sea threatened not to allow her to enjoy it for long.

Shortly after Elsa took the helm, large waves began to crash into the ship again, while those she traversed lifted it up and down in a rapid swaying movement that began to make the young Northuldra seasick.

"I don't feel very well." Honeymaren said, dropping on her knees and holding on tightly from Elsa’s leg, while she kept firmly maneuvering the helm.

"Don't worry sweetheart, you've never boarded a ship before, sea sickness is normal even in relatively stable waters, just resist, I'll try to find calmer waters." Elsa said, handing off the wheel with one hand to caress Honeymaren's face a little and then returning it to the task in front of her.

 _She's so sweet to care about me even in the middle of all this_ Honeymaren thought held up to her girlfriend as she watched her battle the sea with eyes full of tenderness. _I can't let her do everything alone, I must help_ , the young sorceress thought, feeling a lively urge to take back control of herself.

Honeymaren rose firmly and then conjured on herself some spells to try to counteract dizziness and nausea, which left her feeling a little heavier and numb, but definitely better.

"Honey! you don't have to." Elsa began to say, worried that her girlfriend would push herself too hard.

"Don't worry Snowflake, I need to do this." Honeymaren interrupted, and then took the helm alongside her girlfriend, projecting magic onto it and slowly making her magic spread across the ship as they tried to keep it stable.

“Is working!” Elsa shouted excitedly.

“It is!” Honeymaren replied with a smile on her face.

For a few minutes the girls held their position, concentrating only on colliding head-on with the next big wave, trying to avoid as much as possible an impact that would destabilize them. The couple managed to pass several waves of great force without problems until a new challenge appeared unexpectedly.

“What is that?!” Honeymaren asked.

"Did you feel it too?" Elsa asked, and as they took time to react the ship began to lean to the left, drawn by a force they couldn't perceive.

"It's useless, we can't resist!" Elsa said through the roar of the storm as both girls tried hard to turn the ship around.

"Give me a moment, I will go up to see if I can find out what is causing this!" Honeymaren said, releasing the helm and preparing to fly off the ship.

“No wait!” Said Elsa, taking her by the wrist. "The air is too rough; it can be dangerous." Added Elsa, looking at the face of her girlfriend with a clearly worried look.

"You don't have to worry, the cloak and I have great strength together!" Honeymaren said showing the biceps of her free arm while the cloak simulated two arms arched with its ends and lightning and thunder were present around her.

"Okay." Elsa said, after letting out a small laugh with a hint of concern that both caused her.

The pair exchanged a look of confidence and security and then Honeymaren took off quickly, then headed towards where the storm seemed to be taking them.

After a few seconds the young woman realized the undoubted cause of their problem, a huge maelstrom that powerfully drew huge amounts of water to the abyss that was its center.

"There is no way our ship will survive that." Honeymaren said to herself.

Hearing those words, the cloak made a gesture of denial with one of its ends, supporting what the young sorcerer mentioned.

“We must get back to Elsa as soon as possible, find a way to get rid of its attraction and get away.”

The cloak nodded and they both made an effort to fly as fast as possible back to their ship.

"Maelstrom! There's a big maelstrom ahead!" Honeymaren shouted as she descended again into the ship, next to her partner.

"Oh no, this will be more difficult than I thought." Elsa said worriedly, still trying to make the ship resist the pull of the maelstrom.

"There must be something we can do, if you have any ideas I'll do my best to support you." Honeymaren said.

"Take the helm, keep it in steady, I'll be back in no time!" Elsa said quickly, with a look that her girlfriend easily interpreted when she saw that it was the gesture she made when some great idea had suddenly come to her.

“Alright!” Answered the young woman, taking command firmly and at that moment Elsa headed for the stairs to descend to the deck.

The Snow Queen didn’t have extensive experience on ships, but she had multiple memories of the trips she had made on her parent’s when she was a girl and among those memories were some clues about how some things worked on the boat.

Once at the bow castle Elsa she found what she was looking for, the anchors, remembered the way the sailors used to release them, and hastened to release them in the most synchronized way possible, waiting for them to fall and took hold to the bottom relatively evenly.

A few seconds later both anchors were attached to the bottom and the ship saw a sudden decrease in speed that almost caused the young Queen to lose her balance, avoiding falling holding onto one of the ropes attached to the bowsprit.

"Elsa, are you okay?!” Honeymaren asked, regaining her posture after the boat rocked.

“Yes!” Elsa said standing up. "And you ?!”

“I'm fine!… Is it normal that this happened ?!”

"Yes, the anchors will keep the ship from going any further. By holding on they stopped us abruptly." Elsa said as she walked across the deck back to Honeymaren.

"The maelstrom... do you think we can freeze it?" The young Northuldra asked once the Arendellian girl was at her side again.

"I don't know... I have never been able to freeze much of the ocean, its movement prevents the ice from advancing before breaking... a maelstrom has great movement force... it would be very difficult." Elsa said thoughtfully.

"What if it froze so fast that movement wasn't a problem?" Honeymaren asked, releasing the helm and concentrating on the problem at hand when she saw that the ship was in position.

"That could work!... you have an idea in mind, don't you?

"More than one... " said Honeymaren, putting her hand on the Eye of Agamotto, it was then when Elsa thought she understood what her girlfriend had in mind.

"Wow! What are you up to?” Elsa asked surprised when Honeymaren took her in her arms and quickly carried her through the air.

"I'll explain to you along the way." The young sorceress said resolutely.

"That's the maelstrom… seems bigger than last time." Honeymaren said, levitating with her girlfriend in her arms over the powerful natural phenomenon.

"Its own strength must be generating momentum. this won’t be easy," Elsa said, after that the young sorcerer conjured a magic circle under them that she would use as a platform, descending on it and lowering her partner at her side.

"I think I can improve our chances." Honeymaren said, opening The Eye Agamotto and closing the magic rings of time and white magic on her forearms.

The young sorceresr was sure of what she would do and proceeded to extend her hand over the huge maelstrom quickly transmitting the power of the Eye to it and in a matter of seconds stopping it completely, just like everything around it.

"This is unbelievable! Elsa said, excited to see that even the raindrops had been paralyzed in position, as Honeymaren lowered her hands with a gesture of satisfaction.

The young Snow Queen soon created a large staircase to the surface of the water and once ready she took the young sorcerer's hand, taking her along to the static sea.

"It's amazing." Elsa said, right outside the water, which until recently was powerfully stirring.

"Thank you, I just hope it was the right decision and not some kind of cheat on my part." Honeymaren said.

"I don't think it is, you're strengthening your powers and that's the goal of our training." Elsa said, caressing the young woman's hand in a comforting way, causing in her a smile that she returned fondly.

Feeling ready the young Snow Queen turned her gaze to the water and took a cautious step towards it, when the tip of her toes delicately touched the surface it froze almost immediately several meters around, giving her a solid, thick surface on which to stand.

"Come on!” Elsa said pulling Honeymaren when she felt that the ice was safe, and so a great ice path emerged to make way for the girls that advanced without delay towards the center of that huge maelstrom that would have been the nightmare of any sailor who had found it and that was to be easily tamed by the powers and determination of the young couple working together. 

It didn't take long for the young women to find themselves on the edge of the great maelstrom, Elsa was excited about what they were both managing to do together, Honeymaren, on the other hand, was a little more distracted.

"It's unbelievable, isn't it? We did, we came this far as if it had been another walk through the forest." Elsa said, leaning slightly to see beyond the edge of the abyss that the maelstrom formed, yet her words did not receive an answer. “Honey?” Elsa said more seriously turning over to see her girlfriend who was still holding her hand and who seemed to have her gaze fixed on her.

"I'm sorry." Honeymaren said, suddenly, like breaking the trance she was in. "I've seen you do many things as this, and yet you keep impressing me." She added.

"Honey." Elsa said affectionately removing some locks of hair from her girlfriend's forehead. "It's you who surprised me, all this is thanks to you, even standing here now it's thanks to your magic." Elsa added, and then she gave her partner a quick kiss on the cheek. Now let’s go, just as we did in Crete." The young Queen added, releasing Honeymaren's hand and then directing her to the deep abyss that the maelstrom formed.

Honeymaren tried to hide her blush and agreed vigorously.

"Of course!” The young sorceress said adjusting her hands and conjuring a large magic circle over the maelstrom’s center, once she finished Elsa quickly proceeded to project a great deal of her power through the magic circle that would amplify it, freezing the maelstrom to its lowest point.

"We did it!” Elsa said excitedly.

"Yes, that should be enough! Let's go back to the ship to dissolve the power of the Eye and return time to normal." Honeymaren said.

"The last one there owes the other a massage!” Elsa laughing and starting to run without giving Honeymaren time to react.

"You're the worst!” Honeymaren said, starting to run fast behind her.

Minutes later Elsa was the first to set foot on the ship, after practice she had become an expert moving on the ice and creating her own paths with it. The truth is that Honeymaren and the cloak could have won, but the young sorceress didn't want it that way.

"We have to follow her closely, but let her believe that we can't reach her." Honeymaren said to The Cloak of Levitation while running.

The ancient relic with personality made some gestures, as if she was complaining or asking her something.

"Yes, I want to lose, okay?!" The slightly exasperated young woman replied. “That bet will be a perfect excuse someday.” She added.

In the face of Honeymaren’s words the cloak only gesticulated more.

"Don't make fun of me, focus![

And so the two worked as a team to make Elsa believe that she won by a slight difference, the young women laughed at the result once on the ship and together they lifted anchors and then dissolved the spell of the Eye of Agamotto.

"Here we go." Honeymaren said as she closed the ancient relic, and as soon as the influence of its power faded, the ship began to move quickly.

"The storm is still going on, but I don't feel like anything's attracting us anymore!” Elsa said while at the helm.

"The sea seems a little calmer." Honeymaren said as she peeked overboard and saw that the waves were less aggressive than before.

"The maelstrom influenced its surroundings, stopping it so drastically must have influenced the waters by stopping them a little too." Elsa said as Honeymaren got up the ladder of the quarter deck next to her.

"Let's hope the calm lasts." Honeymaren said, standing next to her girlfriend and creating a magical shield above them, preventing more water from soaking them, just after that Elsa used her powers to remove the water they already had on top of them, drying their clothes and hair.

"Thank you." The young Northuldra said, hugging her partner, who maneuvered the helm, from behind.

"Thanks to you." Elsa said, rubbing her cheek against her girlfriend’s who was now resting her chin on her right shoulder.

As time passed the storm calmed down a little more, the lighting disappeared and it ended up being only heavy rain in form. The young women, not having a clue to where they were to go, only continued to sail on the same course that the ship had when they appeared on it, hoping that some sign of what they should do now would emerge.


	16. Chapter 16

The time spent sailing at sea went by smoothly and the young women took turns at the helm to keep the ship on course. Elsa explained to Honeymaren what she knew about sailing and the young Northuldra took the first turn; meanwhile Elsa explored all the decks without finding much more than what was absolutely necessary for sailing, even the cabin did not have anything other than the basics for a quick rest.

“I don't think the plan is to stay on the boat too long, there are no provisions and there is a shortage of what is needed for sailing." Said Elsa as she left the cabin behind Honeymaren.

“I think so too, it shouldn't be long before we find out why we are here.” Said the young brunette.

“I hope we find the reason soon; I feel we should make more use of the time." Said Elsa, stopping beside her companion. “Do you want to swap places?” Added the young queen, putting one hand on the helm, proposing to take control so that her girlfriend could sit down and rest.

“Yes, thank you." Said Honeymaren, and she went to sit by the side of the ship, holding on to a few lines of the mizzenmast.

Shortly after they changed positions a peculiar sound broke the newly found calm of the night, a melodious, seductive song from the voice of some young woman who seemed to be hiding in the darkness of the night.

“Did you hear that?” Asked Honeymaren, getting up and trying to find the origin of that recurring chant.

“Yes, I hear it." Said Elsa in confusion, freezing the helm in position and moving closer to Honeymaren, alert for any surprises that might come.

While the young women stood alert, waiting to find the source of that seductive melody, a second song broke the silence, different in tone and song, but still harmonious and sweet, captivating those who could hear.

“Mermaids.” Honeymaren said, clearly tense about the situation, moving from her place and taking Elsa towards the center of the deck, away from the gunwale.

“Mermaids? my mother used to tell us stories about mermaids, if they were mermaids we wouldn't have to fear them, they wouldn't hurt us." Elsa said, slightly confused as Honeymaren looked back and forth and held magic seals she had just conjured up as shields in her hands, as if waiting for an attack.

“Surely they were tales about kings and princes too, and not all of them have been good people in real life." Honeymaren said. Elsa kept thinking after hearing those words, it was true that in recent years some people who appeared to be good had turned out to be bad. “Just as in people there can always be good and bad beings, the situation we are in is very much in line with what I’ve read of the ambushes of the mermaids." Honeymaren added, still alert to anything.

“You are right." Elsa said, standing back to back with Honeymaren.

After that he girls put themselves in a defensive position to protect each other from the uncertain attack they might be about to face.

“We aren’t far from land." Honeymaren said, slightly distracted when in the distance a wide terrain figure, probably a large island, could be seen. The sighting also caught the attention of the young Queen, but the sound of those songs, closer and closer, brought her to her senses.

“We must hold our course and we’ll be safe.” Said Elsa.

The young women were trying to keep themselves concentrated on repelling any attack, but as those voices came closer and closer their ability to keep alert began to crumble, attracted by the incomprehensibly beautiful song of the sirens.

—¿Elsa? Said Honeymaren, disconcerted as she stopped feeling her girlfriend's back against hers and watched as she began to walk placidly up the stairs while the delicate melodies echoed loudly near the ship.

“¡Elsa!” Shouted the young sorcerer, going after her companion, although the nearer she got to the gunwale the dizzier and sleepy she became.

Gradually the songs increased in number, and when Honeymaren reached Elsa she could see in the water at the side of the ship the owners of the mesmerizing voices who seemed to slowly immerse them in their charm.

Floating in a formation worthy of a well-coupled orchestra the sight that the mermaids gave to the eyes of the young women was almost as hypnotic as their singing. Some of them had a skin and hair color similar to that of humans, in all the variety of their beautiful and unique tones, and some others looked as they had never seen a person before, with colors of complexion and hair as varied as rainbows, light yellows, deep blues, captivating purples, combinations so striking and difficult to ignore that resisting their charm required titanic willpower.

The girls who saved the ship from the relentless forces of the sea were standing just behind the ship’s gunwale, prisoners of the seductive aura of mermaids, a little awareness still remained in their being, but connecting two thoughts was a challenge to overcome.

After a few minutes keeping the young women in their trance some of the mermaids broke formation and approached the side of the ship, and then, with an agile movement they jumped onto deck, transforming their tails into legs as they came out of the water and then standing to the side of the couple they had just found.

The rain, calm and constant, was completely obscured by the songs, offering no stimulus that would help the young women think of something else, to free themselves from that magical influence.

The mermaids on board, with nimble movements and bold glances added their hands to the set of stimuli that sought to extinguish in the young couple the little consciousness that remained, trying with their dexterous touch and caress to persuade their minds towards a state of total surrender. Surrounded and subdued by the seductive feeling of that soothing massage, submission seemed almost certain, but one of the mythical maidens of the ocean made a mistake.

 _What?!, No, never!_ Honeymaren managed to think, recovering a little from her consciousness when she saw one of the mermaids approaching her face seductively towards Elsa’s, clearly with the intention of stealing some of the intimate touch of those lips that the young Queen had only dedicated to her.

In the face of the sudden peak of anger Honeymaren ended up regaining control of herself and a great pulse of energy came out of her in the form of a large and bright explosion that instantly threw overboard some of the mermaids.

"How dare you?!” The young woman said as she quickly conjured magical lassos and tangled the mermaids that were still on board; ankles, arms, legs, waist, the young sorcerer tied the sirens from wherever possible while some tried to escape and others lash out at her, then, in a quick movement and with the help of The Cloak Levitation she rose through the air carrying all of them with her, she turned around over her own axis to generate inertia in the lassos and then let them go, throwing them away into the sea from which they came from, perhaps without doing much damage but making it clear that they should not mess with them, especially with their girlfriend.

The remaining mermaids, still in shock from the rapid turn of events, quickly submerged when they saw the young sorcerer kept her gaze fixed on them, who were floating next to the ship.

Not seeing any more movement from the mermaids the young Northuldra returned to the deck of the ship, descending next to her girlfriend, who lying on the floor still seemed to be in a trance

"I came back... no one touches my Elsa." Honeymaren said softly as she knelt next to the Snow Queen, and taking her in his arms gave her a delicate kiss, hoping the touch of her lips could awaken her.

Seconds after the kiss the blonde girl began to blink, regaining consciousness.

"Oh Honey..." Elsa said with a tender, worried look.

"Don't worry, I fell too." Honeymaren said. "But we won't do it again.

"No, of course not." Elsa said, smiling.

Both young women stared into their eyes for a few seconds when a strong shudder of the ship caused them to glide sharply on deck to hit the main mast, both firmly attached to the other.

"Ow," Elsa said, complaining about the hit as she stood by holding on to the mast ropes, also lifting Honeymaren with her.

"It must be the mermaids, they surely didn’t like what happened," Honeymaren said.

"We'll make them regret coming back." Elsa said, then Honeymaren grabbed her by the waist and the cloak took them quickly towards the helm, once there Elsa took control of the ship again.

"I'll go see what's going on." Honeymaren said, rising in the air.

"Be careful." Elsa shouted.

Honeymaren nodded and then flew rapidly toward the bow of the ship, realizing that a hole had appeared at starboard and seemed to gradually enlarge as the water entered faster.

"They have some kind of magic weapon, they've blown a hole in the bow and the water is coming in." Honeymaren said, going back to her partner's side.

Seconds later the mermaids boarded the ship again, this time carrying some armor and combat weapons.

"Can you deal with them? I know I can repair the hole, water has memory." Elsa said, and Honeymaren quickly understood what she meant.

"Of course." Honeymaren said with a challenging look and rising into the air as she made magical gestures, suddenly a great orange flash surged, and then a dozen copies of the young sorcerer scattered across the ship, surrounding the bewildered mermaids.

"Go." The multiple copies said to their girlfriend, and then they began to fight the mermaids as Elsa scurried to the bow.

Honeymaren and its projections collided against the mermaids in combat, both physically and magically, and taking advantage of that commotion Elsa managed to reach the bow, continued to the bowsprit and descended to nimbly position herself in the steamhead, seeking to be as close as possible to the hole in the hull, then she grabbed onto the figurehead and stretched out her body to position her free hand on the hull, as close to the hole as possible.

Water has a memory, the young Snow Queen thought to herself, closing her eyes to focus and channeling her power; soon small drops of water began to gather at the edges of the damaged area, as did the icy vapor of her powers. From the ends towards the center the water that magically gathered began to freeze, faithfully replicating the design of the hull that had disappeared and shortly after the young Queen began to channel her power over the it the hull was repaired with a brilliant section of solid ice firmly fused to the ship's own structure.

"It's done." Elsa said to herself, and then returned to the deck, thinking to quickly return to Honeymaren's side.

Throughout the ship several small battles occurred simultaneously between the mermaids and Honeymaren’s projections, some of the attackers had great magic power and their own relics increasing the difficulty of the fight for the young sorcerer. The replication spell was not easy to learn or maintain, fighting using her replicas was difficult even when used in unison, but this time each replica had to fight different rivals differently, the artificial intelligence infused into the replicas had a limit in her combat ability and for the real girl, dividing her conscience to slightly adjust the movements of the replicas was a great mental and spiritual effort, so some of the replicas were falling gradually, taking the numerical advantage more and more towards the mermaids side.

A dozen sirens had six versions of the young Northuldra cornered in the ship's quarter deck, maintaining a line they did not back down from as they fought hand-to-hand against the mermaids that lunged and moved away in great synchronicity, achieving a rain of hits, kicks and thrusts with their weapons to which the sorceress's replicas responded and counterattacked as well as they could, being the last ones remaining and with the real young sorcerer in their midst.

As she climbed back Elsa could see how the confrontation was unfolding in the quarter deck, her first instinct was to run to help her girlfriend, but she restrained herself, thinking that facing the situation in the most intelligent way would be more beneficial. The young woman quickly observed her surroundings, the rigging, the masts, and designed her plan of action without a doubt.

“I have it!” She said quietly to herself.

Climbing nimbly through the rigging Elsa reached the top of the foremast in no time.

"You can do this Elsa." The girl said to calm herself as she stared at the next mast, to which she had to jump to get closer to the mermaids and take them by surprise.

Elsa jumped and held tight as much as she could until she felt safe, then she got up, now being at the highest point of the ship.

"Just one more time." Elsa said, holding firmly to the mast, trying not to see down more than was necessary to calculate her jump, and when she was ready she did it again.

The young woman held on tightly to the rigging of the mizzenmast where she was in now, and standing as close and above the mermaids she unleashed a great freezing blast as powerful as she could, making an effort to let out much of her magic and hitting and freezing all the mermaids instantly, getting trapped in ice right in the position they were in.

The Honeymaren replicas let out a sigh and then disappeared, leaving only the real one, which sat cross-legged on the floor.

“Thank you!” Honeymaren shouted, seeing Elsa still at the top of the mast.

“It was nothing!” Elsa shouted, and then released a nearby line and slid nimbly down to the deck.

"You are amazing." Honeymaren said, smiling when Elsa was a few steps from her.

"You are, you contained them alone." Elsa said, sitting in front of her girlfriend. “Are you all right?” She asked afterwards, caressing his cheek.

"Yes, thank you." Honeymaren said, putting his hand on Elsa's. "Are you? Didn't you try too hard?

"No, don't worry, I'm fine." Elsa said, smiling.

The two exchanged a look of affection and complicity for a few seconds.

"Shall we throw them overboard?” Honeymaren said laughing.

"Yes, when they melt they will be free." Elsa said.

"And by then we'll be far away." Honeymaren added.

After getting some more rest, the young women pushed the mermaids across the deck and threw them into the sea, one by one, until they had the ship back to themselves.

"It's not long before we reach the mainland." Elsa said, shaking her hands to remove the excess of water after throwing the last frozen mermaid overboard. T

“The maelstrom and mermaids were just a warm-up... our last challenge must be in that place, that's why we've stayed here so long.” Honeymaren said looking to the shadow that appeared to be the mainland on the horizon.

"I feel the same way... what we're looking for must be there, somewhere... and we're going to find it!” Elsa said excitedly, walking up the stairs to go take the helm.

"I'll stay in the bowsprit, seeing if I can spot the best location to anchor the ship when we reach the ground." Honeymaren said, decidedly as she headed forward.

"Great idea!”

A short time later the wind took hold towards the mainland, filling the sails of the ship and boosting them at high speed.

"Wow! This is exciting." Honeymaren shouted standing at the bowsprit and holding on to the forestays to stabilize herself against the movement of the ship and the ups and downs of the waves.

"Yes, it is!” Elsa shouted, maneuvering the helm excited to be steering the ship in a situation like that.

The cool and agitated wind against their faces, the movement under their feet, the gentle breeze they could feel in their bodies; The electrifying feeling of traveling on a ship with the wind in favor was a wonderful experience for the young couple.

"Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted, in a voice that implied she had something in mind.

"What's the matter?”

"I see something... it would be better if you came for a moment." The young Northuldra said, after those words her companion froze the helm in position and descended to go to the bow with her.

"What's going on?” Elsa asked, standing at the bowsprit as her girlfriend.

"Can you see that?” Honeymaren said, pointing to a spot on the mainland with her hand.

The place indicated by Honeymaren looked like a strange luminous stripe on the large dark mass that was the mainland they were trying to reach, traversing it vertically at one point.

"I can see it, but what is it? what does it mean?”

"I think it's an opening, maybe a big river flowing inland, if this is true we could carefully navigate it, it would save us a lot of time from making our way through what appears to be mountainous terrain.

Elsa kept thinking for a moment before giving an answer.

"If the river is as deep as the fjords it would be possible to navigate it, there is a large peak in the distance, and with the irregular shape of the shadow it is very possible that the terrain is steep... yes, I think trying to move forward with the ship would be the best option." Elsa said.

"Wonderful, I'll guide you as best I can!”

"Alright, we have a plan!”


	17. Chapter 17

The Snow Queen had control of the ship and little by little, with coordination between her and her girlfriend both headed towards the opening in the shadow that seemed to have light, probably because the first rays of sun were beginning to be seen, covered by the mountains and only crossing through that natural channel between them.

As the young women approached, they realized that a large river was flowing through the opening, and apparently had the depth to navigate, so they decided to try, making the decision when they were still a few dozen meters away.

"It seems safe! Keep going!” Honeymaren shouted to Elsa when they were so close to the canyon through which the river crossed the mountainous terrain that turning later would be impossible.

"Here we go!” Elsa said as they entered the narrow path that left barely more than a couple of meters on either side of the ship.

The canyon was very high, just like the mountains it passed through, and the first rays of the sun began to illuminate its interior, helping the young women to see the flow of the river in front of them.

The walls of grayish rock were occasionally populated by vegetation that occurred in its ledges and vines that made their way through them, in addition to some vines that extended through both sides of the canyon, some being detached by the masts of the ship as they advanced.

"The road remains straight; we must keep the course!” The young Northuldra shouted, watching the surroundings carefully from the bowsprit.

"Understood!” Elsa said doing her best to keep the helm straight.

The flow of the river seemed to increase the speed of the ship as they advanced further, so maneuvering the ship to evade the small edges or protruding rocks became increasingly difficult and required more coordination from the young couple.

"We must be prepared to leave the ship, if this leads us to rapids there is no way for this to stay afloat!” Honeymaren shouted, among other shouts that she gave to evade the dangerous obstacles of the canyon.

"I agree!” Elsa yelled.

"Curve! All starboard when I give the signal!” Honeymaren shouted when she saw that the canyon curved sharply a couple of dozen meters in front of them.

"Ready!” Elsa yelled.

Honeymaren waited patiently calculating the right time, as turning ahead of time would bring a fast end to their ship, putting them in danger.

"Now!” The young sorceress shouted at the right time and the young Snow Queen maneuvered the boat nimbly to pass through the bend, with barely a few scratches in the hull.

"That was wonderful!” Honeymaren shouted cheerfully.

"It's all thanks of you!” Elsa shouted with the same joy, and then suddenly a great burst of fire spread down through bow of the ship.

"Honey!” Elsa shouted desperately because she couldn’t see her in the flames and wishing she could freeze the helm in position and to the bow, but holding back, as she knew that on a path as treacherous as that a second without someone to maneuver the ship could be tragic.

"Honey!” Elsa shouted again as the fire began to dissipate, concentrating only on some points where the flames had settled.

"I'm fine!” Honeymaren shouted and soon Elsa managed to distinguish the sorcerer using elemental magic to control some of the river water in the form of elongated limbs that extinguished the flames on board quickly, all while she herself seemed to be surrounded by a large sphere of the same liquid.

By the time the last flames were extinguished, the young sorcerer returned the water to the river and flew quickly to the Snow Queen's side.

"It was a dragon, I could see it, big and angry." Honeymaren said, and before Elsa could react the canyon gave way to a large valley, apparently crossed by the river, to whose left the mountainous rock wall remained constant, but to whose right a large plain had revealed itself to her eyes, full of vibrant green grass, and occasional shrubs and trees.

"Where's the dragon!?” Elsa asked.

"Here it comes!” Honeymaren yelled.

Near the moment of the young Northuldra's warning the great shadow of the creature passed over them, landing on the plain and quickly turning around to keep pace with the ship, running instead of flying.

Even in the midst of that moving scene the features of the creature were evident, its grayish body was as large as the ship, even a little more, its four legs were delimited by thick claws, it had a long tail and large wings and a long and threatening skull, endowed with many teeth, large reptilian eyes of a deep yellow color and multiple horns of different sizes that came out of its skull and ended in sharp points.

“It will attack again!” Elsa shouted as she saw the signs of aggression from the creature and the movement of its head.

“I'll take care of it, you keep handling the ship!” –Honeymaren said, giving no time for a response from Elsa and flying off to the plain.

“¡Honey!” Elsa shouted, annoyed because her companion exposed herself to danger in that way without consulting her.

A great glow of fire was quickly drawn in the direction of the sorcerer who was heading for the beast, but the young woman evaded it and fired several magical projectiles at the creature's head, enraging it. More bursts of fire were projected, trying to guess where the swift wizard would be in the air, being too quick for the dragon's attacks thus far. In a split second the creature swung its tail into the air, which did not fully impact the young woman, but disoriented her, leaving her a perfect target for the breath of fire, but the young woman was able to react in time and conjure up a large shield in front of her.

“I’ve had enough!” Said Elsa to herself, annoyed, freezing the helm of the ship and rushing towards starboard, then she unleashed her powers on the river and the mountain beside her, creating a great block of ice which would keep the ship in position despite the flow of water.

Before the dragon could cease to unleash the fury of its breath on the young sorcerer it could feel the icy pain of freezing in its tail and hind legs so it reacted by stopping its attack and turning its attention to its new attacker, to whom it unleashed a violent burst of fire that was slowed down by a sudden burst of ice.

“¡Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted as she saw her girlfriend face the dragon and quickly performed the spell to wrap the beast in the Vapors of Valtorr, blinding it momentarily and then flying away to take her companion in her arms, taking her away from the battle site.

“What are you doing?” Elsa asked, clearly upset.

“What were you doing provoking the dragon so closely? That was very dangerous!" Honeymaren said.

“Put me down!” Elsa said, to which Honeymaren reluctantly obeyed, descending over the plain about forty meters before reaching the ship again.

Once they had touched the ground Elsa came out of Honeymaren's embrace and took a few steps away before turning around to see her face to face.

“Honey, we talked about this, I appreciate that you care about me, but I also do it for you and it hurts me to feel that you jump into danger leaving me behind.”

Honeymaren lasted a little in silence before answering, letting out a big sigh and shrugging her shoulders.

“You're right... I'm sorry...” Honeymaren said, and looking at the sad look of the young woman and even the crestfallen look of the Cloak of Levitation Elsa could not help but embrace her.

“I worry about you too... and, it's just that... I could have died in Atohallan for wanting to face it alone, driving away those who loved me because I felt I could protect them... in the end things worked out well but destiny can't always act for us, we must take care of each other Honey.”

“That’s true... I'll try harder to make it so." Honeymaren said, still in that warm embrace.

It didn't take long for the emotional moment between the couple to be cut short by the roar of the dragon that had finally managed to break free from the fog and was flying aggressively towards them.

“Let us teach it a lesson." Elsa said with a smile.

“I am by your side." Honeymaren said smiling back as she charged her hands with magical energy.

Shortly before the dragon came close enough to fight the sound of the breaking ice caught the young women's attention.

“The ship! If the ice breaks, it will drift away!” Honeymaren said hurriedly.

“Go, I can take care of the dragon!” Said Elsa, taking up a fighting position a few steps in front of Honeymaren.

“¡Elsa!” Said the young Northuldra, in a voice that implied her disagreement.

“Honey." Elsa said turning to her girlfriend, altering her position as little as possible. "I can do it, trust me.”

Honeymaren stared at the young woman for a couple of seconds, nodded, and then flew quickly to the ship that was about to be released.

Being close to the Snow Queen the dragon went sharply to the ground, falling suddenly and raising a large amount of dirt through the air, making visibility difficult and then whipping its tail sweeping the place where the young woman was, who managed to perceive it just in time to take a big leap that took her out of the danger’s way.

 _That was close_ , she thought as she took advantage of the creature facing other side to jump on it and freeze its back as she was advancing towards its head, taking a big leap to the air once she got there and creating a big ice path that would take her away from danger and to a large rock formation on the plain.

The dragon roared annoyed, shaking its wings and body to break the thick layer of ice the young woman had left over it and regaining mobility running towards her with occasional bursts of fire coming out of its jaws, showing that it was eager to attack.

The young Queen froze the floor as the beast approached again, causing it to slip, and then quickly removed herself from the path letting it crash into the rocks it was heading to, knocking them down completely and falling sideways afterwards.

As the fight between Elsa and the dragon continued Honeymaren had reached the ship and maneuvered it as best as she could downstream, trying to stay at the level where the fight unfolded, controlling the rigging with her magic.

Elsa tried to freeze the creature before it got up, but, although the ice covered it, it didn’t seem to do much damage beyond slowing it down a little; this slightly surprised Elsa, and being in the midst of that surprise the dragon attacked with a furious burst of fire, from which the young Snow Queen only came to defend herself with a quick shield that melted every second while she created new layers.

 _Some dragons have great magic resistance... this can be a problem_ , Honeymaren thought, looking from the distance.

The dragon, realizing that Elsa's shield was not impenetrable increased the flow of fire, putting the Queen in trouble, who planting her feet in position created as much ice as possible, knowing that she couldn’t maintain that technique for long.

 _I just need a moment to get away, a distraction_. Elsa thought as the layers of her shield faded almost as soon as she was creating them, beginning to feel the heat on her body.

"That’s it." The young woman said to herself, seeing her feet had created a thick layer of ice where she was standing, trying to anchor herself and not giving ground.

Without time to lose the girl channeled much of her magic to her legs, then feet and towards the floor, retaining in her hands and arms only the one necessary to maintain the thinnest shape of the shield, and with her magic flowing into the ground she began to freeze the place, with the ice reaching the dragon's legs and beginning to climb through them, , creating in the creature the distraction she expected and seeing that the fire was interrupted a second she created a large frozen wall and began running away from the site.

As the young women advanced on the island a small slope began to become noticeable, the river and terrain began to tilt and gravity to exert strength on both.

A few seconds after Elsa’s maneuver a large outburst was heard when the dragon violently freed from the ice and began running towards her in an angry way, wishing to wipe out its prey as soon as possible. Elsa continued to run downhill using the ice to glide while she devised another plan to face the magic-resistant beast.

"Elsa, look ahead, the river will fork in many currents!” Honeymaren said to Elsa by means of a magical connection between the two, given the distance they were at.

"I see it, do you have a plan?” Elsa asked as he continued to slide into the place where the current would divide, forming a large network of roads bounded by large rock walls that the new currents had formed over time. 

"We can lose it in that place, we will both enter at the same time and find ourselves guided by our magical energy; between so many different paths and with their size it will be difficult to adapt quickly," Honeymaren said.

"Let's do it!”

Before they knew it, the young women entered that labyrinthine site where the river continued to flow through canals between the mountain, Elsa had the dragon following her closely, feeling the heat of the fire that it throwing closer than she wanted, and Honeymaren maneuvered the ship to evade how many rocks and mountain ledges were present in front of it. The young Queen did not want to facilitate the advance of the dragon by freezing the current so that she only created a small surface of ice with each footprint, the dragon unable to fly in the space reduced was chasing her through the water, encountering difficulties by the force of the current and the rocks, which helped Elsa to gain advantage.

"You do it wonderfully!” Honeymaren yelled at Elsa when she saw her for a few seconds through a junction as they continued to descend.

"And you maneuver the ship like a captain!” Elsa yelled at her as she saw her during another crossing, descending more and more quickly.

The young women laughed as they found the adrenaline they felt thrilling, as they were quickly carried down the river even in the face of the danger of the lurking beast, when laughter became a concern after seeing what awaited in front of them.

"Cascade!” Honeymaren shouted. Distinguishing the characteristic sound and vaguely seeing the water fall that awaited for them a few dozen meters ahead.

Elsa was slightly distracted by slipping over the water, but she created an ice canoe to keep going down the flow, while the dragon seemed to have regained ground and approached dangerously.

"Elsa!, the roads meet again at the end of the fall, there we will meet and you will have to jump when we reach the edge of the waterfall! Honeymaren shouted, taking advantage of being almost in adjoining canals.

"Jump?!, into the void?!” Elsa asked bewildered.

"Trust me!” The young Northuldra answered for sure.

In just under a minute what the young sorcerer predicted happened and a large canal opened in front of them, meeting side by side shortly before the waterfall, going the canoe of the young blonde in front of the ship when with an angry roar the dragon took a great leap leaning on the edge of the large rock walls that it had just left behind, powerfully flapping its wings afterwards to increase its momentum and managing to appear practically over the young Queen in a blink.

"Jump!” Honeymaren shouted as the jaws of the beast girded over her girlfriend.

The young Snow Queen had full confidence in her companion's plan and jumped into the void, even knowing that the dragon's snout could take her at any moment while she projected herself upward instead of trying to plummet down, hoping for a miracle. When Elsa felt the heat of the creature's breath on her back the sensation changed dramatically as she felt almost immediately the vibration of a thunderous roar of pain; Honeymaren, in a daring maneuver at the edge of the abyss had unfurled all the sails of the ship and directed the bow towards the creature taking advantage of all the momentum that gravity, the flow and the wind could give it, seconds later the bowsprit impaled the beast from the side, sealing the fate of the ship and the dragon, which would fall together towards their end in the abyss.

“I've got you!” Said Honeymaren, who after taking flight when she secured the impact of the ship against the dragon, had quickly swooped to the edge of the waterfall, swiftly taking Elsa back into her arms.

“Honey” Said Elsa, holding on to Honeymaren and watching the ship and the dragon disappear into the abyss below them. "That was impressive!... I hope we don't need a ship anymore for the last test.”

“No ship will ever be as important as you, Snowflake... We'll improvise if we need something like that." The young Northuldra said as the cape descended over a ledge of what was clearly the largest mountain in the area.

“Thank you." Elsa said when she felt ground under her feet, then she hugged her girlfriend and gave her a quick kiss on the lips that made both of them blush slightly, happy for the gesture and still full of adrenaline for what had just happened.


	18. Chapter 18

Sitting on the ledge, with their legs hanging over the great river below and enjoying the breeze with which the great waterfall filled the place the young couple took some time to rest and talk a little about what they had done well in their last confrontations and what could have been done better, until the morning light began to fill much of the valley.

"Hey... there's a city there, at the distance!” Elsa said distinguishing man made rock formations far away as she looked towards the horizon.

"You're right, that looks like a city." Honeymaren said.

"Should we go?

"I don't think so; this mountain... something tells me that this is where we were supposed to go all this time, our final test." Honeymaren said, rising and looking towards the top. “Don't you feel something?

"Yes, I feel something, too," Elsa said, "but I didn't know whether to trust this strange feeling, Null drew me to its trap in a similar way." Elsa said, shrugging.

"Elsa...," Honeymaren said, slightly caressing her girlfriends's cheek. "You've trained a lot since that day, you've become strong, don't let that memory limit your abilities.

"You're right... I won't," Elsa replied, regaining self-confidence as her eyes were fixed on her partner's.

Soon the cloak began to move fast, as indicating that it was time to take flight, ending the moment that the young women had.

"I think someone's impatient," Honeymaren said, smiling.

"If our last challenge is up there let’s go for it," said Elsa, infected with the vivacity of the cloak.

"Let's do it! Honeymaren said offering her hand to her beloved, who took it without hesitation.

As the sun's rays continued to advance to cover everything that wasn’t yet touched by them that morning the young women flew beyond the top of the mountain, realizing that much of it was hollow, forming something resembling to a large coliseum contoured by the high rock walls that circulated it completely forming the appearance of the summit, except for a small area on the south side where a path that seemed to descend opened. 

"There's nothing here," Honeymaren said when they made landed inside that place.

"There must be, we just have to look." Elsa said when the young Northuldra left her on the floor.

The girls separated to cover more space, knowing that in that wide place they would remain in the field of view of the other, although despite being faster it was difficult to find something in a large empty place, soon both met in front of a huge rock whose size made them look tiny and that was at the side of the place, apparently delving into the rock of the contour.

"Part of the rock enters the mountain wall, there must be something behind it, at least enough space for the missing part to enter." Honeymaren said, inspecting the outline of the rock.

"We have to move it, see what's there, it seems like the only thing worth investigating here.” Elsa said.

"I agree," Honeymaren said, quickly conjuring a spell that covered her body in a bright orange magical aura.

"What are you doing? Elsa asked.

"Moving it." The Northuldra girl said, and quickly stuck her fingers under the rock and began pulling, moving the rock a few inches to the surprise of the Arendellian girl.

“A fortification spell; you're amazing." Elsa said, and then she crouched down and approached as much as she could to the edge of the rock that Honeymaren was pulling on, carefully freezing the ground in front of the rock without affecting the one where Honeymaren's feet rested, thus facilitating the sliding of the rock out of the area where it was embedded.

A few minutes later the rock was already completely separated from the side of the mountain, Honeymaren stopped pulling and sighed because of the titanic effort she had made.

"That was amazing Honey, you want to take a break?” Elsa asked, surprised and dismayed at the same time.

"No, let's see what this rock was hiding." The young sorcerer said, standing up straight and heading toward the opening they had uncovered.

"It looks like a cave," Elsa said when they were both standing in front of the great opening that the rock had left and which seemed to extend indefinitely in the dark.

"We must enter," Honeymaren said, conjuring magic fire in her hand when the floor seemed to shudder.

"Did you feel that? Elsa asked.

"Yes." Honeymaren replied, alert and in combat position.

Before the girls had the time to make sense of the situation a second big blow shook the ground, then a third and a fourth, becoming more often and feeling stronger.

"They are footsteps, there is something alive there!" Honeymaren shouted, taking a few steps back next to Elsa who instinctively did the same.

Suddenly a large pair of yellow eyes appeared in the dark, hostile, furtive as those of a snake and clearly fixed on them.

“Let's go!” Honeymaren shouted, taking Elsa by the arm and running to surround the rock they had moved and move further away, to the center of that great place.

“What is that?” Elsa asked as they ran.

"I don't know." Honeymaren replied when they reached the desired point and assuming a combat position in front of Elsa while they waited to see what they were facing.

Little time passed for the creature to surround the rock and stand in front of the couple, observing what it had decided would be its first prey in a long time. That being of apparent purple color had an elongated head very similar to that of a snake, with a long neck that continued to resemble one, the top of the head had some black tips similar to spikes that followed all over the neck forming an orderly line at the top and followed by the large and bulky body of the creature until continuing by a large and thick tail. Large fangs protruding from the beast's jaw added to its menacing appearance, and beneath the broad body were a pair of thick, powerful legs outlined in thick, sharp claws.

"That thing is huge, we must be cautious, keep our distance." said Honeymaren.

"You're right, although on the other hand you just killed a dragon." Elsa said seriously as her girlfriend wondered how she could joke at such a time and make it seem so normal.

"I think I saw such a creature in a book, but I don't remember accurately." Honeymaren said.

Suddenly the beast let out a deafening roar and began to run towards the young women, making the place tremble and commencing the encounter.

"You'll remember." Elsa said, putting herself in combat position.

When the creature had advanced three quarters of the distance between them, the young women unleashed a flurry of long-distance magical attacks, aiming as best they could at the head and neck and causing it to falter a little in its gait, then it accelerated its pace angrily and shortly before reaching them made a quick movement and send a lash with its tail, that being longer than the girls expected would have swept both if they had not jumped just in time.

"We have to flank it." Honeymaren shouted while taking off, Elsa nodded, and the young women positioned themselves in opposite directions, continuing their attack at different directions and levels.

A large magic projectile from Honeymaren ended up grabbing the attention of the creature that went attacking Elsa with lashes of its tail and trying to bite the young sorcerer with the swift lunges of its long neck. Elsa ran towards the tail between its lashes and when she saw an opportunity she slipped under it instead of jumping it, gaining valuable seconds, approaching the creature unprepared and with a great blast of ice freezing the top of its neck and head, which, after quickly reinforcing her right fist with magic, Honeymaren exploded in one great blow, causing the creature's body to shudder and then to fall abruptly to the ground.

“That was it?” Elsa asked as Honeymaren descended beside her.

"I don't know... it was very easy, wasn't it?" Said the brown haired girl as she looked at the motionless body of the beast.

"It was, besides, we're still here, I see no sign that this is over."

As the girls spoke, a strange sound of movement began to be heard inside the body of the beast, which suddenly stood up.

“What happening?” The blonde girl asked.

"It's coming back! ... I think I have it!" The young brunette was saying as two lumps began to appear on what was left of the creature's neck. "Hydra…”

As if it were an invocation, when the young sorceress spoke the name of the beast, two new heads emerged, ready to attack and with their eyes fixed on the couple.

"Hydra! What will we do if we can't cut heads off?" Elsa asked, attentive to the movements of the Hydra, which until now only seemed to stalk them, and aware of the history of Hercules confrontation with the beast.

"It will come to us, for now do not hesitate to decapitate it if your life is in danger, we’ll make time and come up with something." Said Honeymaren.

“Understood!”

The creature rammed against the young women and each of the heads went after one of them, not long passed for Elsa to find the opportunity, freeze the head chasing her and then destroy it with a strong kick, shortly before Honeymaren surrounded the other's neck with a strong magic whip and then powerfully energized it as she pulled, ending in another beheading. On that occasion the body did not fall, only stood still for a few seconds until four new heads emerged to take the place of the previous ones. 

"The heads, the body, we need to finish it all at the same time." Elsa said as the Hydra headed step by step towards them.

Without saying a word Honeymaren conjured some gems and threw them with great precision towards the beast's heads, causing them to explode as they reached their target and bursting the beast's heads along with them; she immediately created a great lasso of energy and tied its paws, Elsa understood what she wanted and took the lasso as well, then both pulled with all their might causing the body to fall and then locked the lasso on the floor with a great magic stake that the young sorcerer conjured too. 

"Now what?” The young Snow Queen asked.

"That's just to buy time, come with me." The young sorceress said, taking Elsa in her arms and quickly taking off to reach the base of the higher peak that the great rock contour had.

"Why are we here?

"I need you to freeze this peak, as deeply as you can, I will distract the hydra for as long as I can." Honeymaren said, as the creature had grown its eight new heads and struggled abruptly to rise, taking the magic lasso to its resistance limits.

"Honey, it's dangerous to face it alone." Elsa said, worried.

"I know, Snowflake, but this is the only plan I have, I'll try to be careful.” Honeymaren said with a sympathetic look.

Elsa nodded resigned and then Honeymaren flew just as the hydra broke the anchor that held it captive.

"I'll need as much help as you can give me to make this work," Honeymaren said to The Cloak of Levitation as they flew toward the creature, the cloak nodded at the edges of the neck and increased speed.

While Elsa froze the large rock wall by concentrating on the peak her companion had indicated Honeymaren was fighting the hydra, flying nimbly between its heads and attacking them with a wide variety of spells to wipe out as many heads as possible; Powerful energy shots, magical energy whips, explosive gems, the young sorceress even conjured powerful relics she knew were in the sanctuary to deal with the growing number of threats, such as the mighty Dragonfang sword, the Angarruumus axe or The Wand of Watoomb, each being used and returned at the right moment during the conflict.

"Honey!”

When Elsa yelled at Honeymaren to warn that she had completely frozen the peak it looked tremendously frosted and seemed to expel freezing steam on its own. The young Northuldra was fighting at the moment against more than thirty two heads so when she heard the call she didn’t let her guard down, she only slowly began to fight so that she could go backwards and emerge from the large, intertwined web of long necks and heads that the creature had formed in its desire to take her down; finally, when she saw a safe escape route she flew rapidly, moving away from danger and causing the creature to begin to run after her, albeit slowed by the weight of its heads.

"It's done, what's next?” Elsa asked when Honeymaren came to her side.

"We'll do what Hercules did, crush that thing completely by disintegrating the peak over it." Honeymaren said, breathing fast and walking towards the frozen rock wall.

"Were you planning on using the strengthening spell again to hit the wall?” Elsa asked when she saw her partner looked exhausted.

"That's right." Honeymaren said, trying to conjure the spell, but failing repeatedly. Her magical symbols were erratic and faded shortly after they were created.

"You need to rest... I'll buy some time." Elsa said, getting ready to go and meet the hydra before it got to where they were.

"Elsa, you don't have to do this!” Honeymaren said, taking her by the arm.

"I can't stand by and watch you demand so much of yourself!... I'll win a few minutes!... trust me." Elsa said with a gentle smile as the grim contrast of the hydra figure could be seen coming in the distance.

"I trust you." Honeymaren said, releasing the young Snow Queen, who soon began to run into danger.


	19. Chapter 19

Being close to half the distance between the hydra and Honeymaren Elsa it stopped and started projecting big bursts of ice on the ground, freezing several dozen meters around and then creating randomly shaped ice structures that made it difficult to pass through, together with some others that intended to be offensive, such as spikes and big columns with serrated edges. The hydra crashed into those obstacles destroying much of them with its momentum, but damaging itself as it did so, becoming enraged with pain and directing all its heads simultaneously at the Arendellian girl, who had nimbly begun to replicate that technique by running around the creature at a relatively safe distance, creating an icy battle stage over which she would have the advantage.

“Let's do this." Elsa said at the edge of her battle arena as she prepared to enter, creating a light ice armor of Greek influence over herself and even a Corinthian looking helmet. The armor was not designed to withstand the fangs of the beast or some knockout blow, it was only meant to prevent some superficial scratching of the creature's spikes from distracting her putting her in grave danger before a large number of heads functioning as one, thus prioritizing agility to move among them and evade its attacks.

When Elsa entered to fight with the hydra the heads began to attack her from all the flanks, but the icy environment worked for her, some heads were absorbed by the Queen's ice when they got very close to the floor or some of its structures, others were frozen together to make them clumsy and cumbersome, the young woman jumped nimbly between the beast's necks making the heads collide with each other, get in the way and even attack each other by mistake; the acrobatic strategy was an impressive thing for the young sorcerer to witness; to see her girlfriend face the beast efficiently with only the mastery of the magic that she has had since she was a child was a beautiful and captivating thing in its own way.

When enough time had passed and Honeymaren felt some freshness returning to her body she flew swiftly to the hydra, conjuring up a powerful ray that completely destroyed all the heads that were so far covered by ice and calling the attention of the creature, an opportunity that Elsa quickly took advantage of to move away and position herself in the direction of the trap they had created.

“Ready to run?” Honeymaren asked, descending beside his companion.

The creature's roars caused a great rumble as it ran, shattering Elsa's structures, hurting itself, but ignoring that in its anger and its desire to reach the young couple. 

“Of course I am." Replied Elsa, undoing her armor.

When the time was right the young women began to run towards the frozen peak giving the hydra and its now more than fifty heads the feeling of being on the verge of reaching them and making it concentrate on them and not on its surroundings.

“When we are close I am going to open a portal at the base, I want you to jump through it, I will follow you a few seconds later." Shouted the young Northuldra to her partner as they ran.

“I'll do it!” Shouted Elsa.

A little less than a couple of minutes later the girls were already under the frozen peak ground, with the hydra following close behind, and as they were near the edge Honeymaren opened the portal and Elsa jumped through it, being transported to the far edge of the same depression in the mountain where they were, Honeymaren in turn swiftly conjured up the fortification spell by concentrating as much magic as she could on her right side and with all the strength she could muster she struck a powerful blow to the frozen base of the peak, causing great cracks instantly, propelling herself back with her legs as her feet touched the wall and then quickly leaping through the portal that would close behind her.

When the young sorcerer emerged from the portal at the opposite end of the site she could see in the distance how large fragments of ice and rock were falling on the hydra, crushing it incessantly until nothing visible remained of it.

“We did it!” Elsa shouted happily, taking Honeymaren by the waist and turning her over a few times, and then taking her in his arms like a princess, causing her to blush heavily as she was used to be the one carrying the other.

While Elsa had Honeymaren in her arms a magical flow began to circulate and when she wrapped them up a great burst took them back to the training room.

“You were wonderful." Honeymaren said, planting a kiss on the cheek of the young woman who was holding her as the remains of the hydra projection disappeared.

“Not as wonderful as you." Added Elsa, embarrassed by the compliment.

“Don't make me flood you with praise." The Northuldra girl replied cheerfully as her girlfriend lowered her.

The young couple shared some ideas as they rested lying on the floor, recalling some key parts of their training and feeling encouraged by what they had been able to achieve together.

It was already nightfall when the young women came out of the mirror dimension, ready to take a bath and go to sleep. Once in their room the girls undressed and walked to the shower, that unique miniature waterfall with hot water and surrounded by a beautiful glass that they had enjoyed so much and that they had thought so many times about replicating at home.

"Please open it completely." Elsa asked when Honeymaren took the crank that gradually removed the gutter cover that obstructed the flow of water.

"Oh... Thank you," Elsa said, clearly enjoying the water that bathed her body bathed after such strenuous training, making sure she was completely covered before she started washing her hair.

"It was nothing." Honeymaren said calmly.

"And... are you waiting for me to help you or...? Elsa asked as she rubbed soap over her body and saw that Honeymaren was just standing under the small waterfall staring at her.

"Oh! I..." Honeymaren began to say surprised, and then just sighed and laughed. Why do I even bother to make up an excuse?... your beauty caught me for a second." Said the young brunette approaching the exposed Snow Queen.

Only an instant passed when the young sorcerer had Elsa already lightly pressed against the crystal, her chest held firmly against her back, as her hands gently scanned north and south of the body of the unguarded, white skinned girl, aided in their agility and fluidity by the warm water that constantly descended upon the scene. The soft movements and constant gestures of approval that the young woman had learned to recognize in her companion began to placidly fill the atmosphere of the place as the hands of the young blonde tried to feel as much as they could of the girl standing behind her, bringing her face closer over her shoulder to be able to make fleeting, well synchronized kisses that complemented the soft movement and touch of their skin. As the passionate act continued both recognized by the memory of their intimacy that the climax of that beautiful conversation between their bodies was approaching when suddenly Honeymaren felt Elsa became tense.

“What's the matter?" Asked the dark-haired girl in a low, soft tone, trying not to kill the moment completely.

“Something moved." Said Elsa even more tense, and then she moved swiftly to the glass shower door, walked through it, picked up a towel from the wall hook, and went to the bathroom door, leaving a trail of water behind her; Honeymaren followed swiftly as she heard the peculiar noise of porcelain breaking; when she got out of the shower she could hardly believe her eyes.

The scene that the young sorcerer saw as she came out of the shower soaked and rushed would be hard to forget, her girlfriend was clearly upset, holding her towel around her as she saw how the Cloak of Levitation seemed paralyzed as she saw the flower vase of the dressing table next to the door broken on the floor; of course she was not able to see conventionally, but her neck and her position seemed to give a clear picture of where she was directing her attention, that a few seconds later would be suddenly directed between the face of her chosen mistress, her annoyed girlfriend and the vase she threw off, apparently frustrating her own escape, as if she could be reprehending herself how foolish she was and how she should have run away instead of stopping in surprise at the sound of it breaking.

"It was spying on us!" Elsa yelled annoyed looking at Honeymaren and then turned her attention back to the levitating garment, throwing blasts of ice at her and then chasing her down the hall to the living room with incessant freezing magic until, already frosted, the cloak opened the door and escaped through it, leaving behind her annoyed pursuer who limited herself to freezing the entire door as if hoping that that garment could never enter again.

"Sweetheart… Snowflake…" Honeymaren said reaching up the young queen's back, uncovered and with water dripping from her hair.

"She was spying on us Honey! I don't want you to use it anymore! I don't want you to let it pass! Nor that...!” Elsa began to exclaim when the Northuldra girl just hugged her. The Arendellian girl, so exalted to that point, ended up calming down when she felt that skin against hers again, dropping her towel so she could hug her and feel the soft union of their bodies once more. After a few seconds the young blonde just sighed.

"What she did wasn’t right…" Elsa said, picking up her towel from the floor, taking her girlfriend by the arm and heading back to the bathroom, freezing the trail of water that they had both left on their way back.

"It wasn't, but even if she's alive she's not a person, maybe she was curious... besides... I don't blame her for wanting to see you, she wouldn't be the first to get lost in your beauty this afternoon," Honeymaren said jokingly as they entered the bathroom and Elsa locked the door, then she slapped her partner hard on the arm. “Ouch!”

Once back in the shower Elsa continued with her daily bathing routine, Honeymaren imitated her for a few minutes, although the more time passed the more she felt the tension building up in her body, the young woman had never been in a situation where they were interrupted in that way.

"Hey... Snowflake," said Honeymaren standing a few inches behind Elsa. “I know what just happened was sudden and upsetting, but... I was wondering if, maybe... you'd like to…”

"I thought you wouldn't mention it anymore." Elsa said suddenly, as if she were just waiting for her beloved to make the first move.

The Snow Queen began the intimate scene again, kissing her girlfriend with a growing frenzy like a flame that is fed shortly before it is extinguished; gradually recovering its strength, warming everything around it. A short time passed before the hands of the young blonde began to leave the face and back of the brunette girl seeking to recognize more delicate areas of her being when the Northuldra girl grabbed her by the arms gently but firmly to pin her against the glass again; but this time with her body towards her, her arms folded behind her back, immobilized by the position. Little by little the lips of the young sorcerer descended from the mouth of her beloved to her neck, then took some time in the contoured shapes of her chest and when she finished there continued with their descent, all this in a rhythmic and seductive cycle that seemed to synchronize perfectly with the caresses of her hands and the small outbursts of her body when she felt a sudden and pleasant pulse caused by the actions of her partner. The sound of the young women's accelerated breathing and passionate voices filled the air again with that special sensation in which nothing mattered to the couple more than their beloved and the warmth of their body.

Eventually the mouth of the Northuldra girl descended beyond the soft abdomen and the fine hip of her girlfriend, reaching that zone where the young woman she loved was most defenseless before the delicate and intimate touch of her lips, which ended up making her shake immediately, it was there when the young Queen freed her hands and impulsively took her beloved by the hair, giving her small, almost unnecessary guides, as the young brunette already knew what was pleasing to her partner... even so, taking Honeymaren's pretty brown hair, directing her with her hands, ended up giving Elsa a satisfying feeling that added to all the others that were flooding her at that moment. The tension in the young Queen's body increased, leading her to stand on her tiptoes against the crystal and begin to move her body in rhythmic movements that were more and more consecutive, a rhythm to which the young sorcerer coupled herself to guide her beloved to the lively moment of liberation that she knew she desired even more after it had been denied before.

As the young blonde's hip movement became even more frequent, the brown haired girl incorporated the soft but firm touch of her fingers, and after doing so the intimate interaction began to rise uninterruptedly to a climax until every nerve in the young queen's body, from her head to her curled toes, resounded in a blissful orchestra of pleasure and satisfaction.

When the ecstatic electric pulses ceased to travel through Elsa's body she let herself fall gently in the arms of Honeymaren, who held her upright after her legs gave way as the tension that had built up during intimacy was released.

"That was amazing," Elsa said, seeing Honeymaren with an expression of absolute relaxation and then huddling against her chest.

"Magic hands." Said Honeymaren smiling, raising her hand that wasn’t holding Elsa against herself to project a little magical heart into the air and then make it disappear, as if it were fireworks.

The young women rested a little snuggled under the soft touch of the water that fell on them, then finished their bath and wrapped in their robes set out to go to sleep.

Both girls sat side by side on the edge of the bed, brushing their hair. Elsa ended up a little earlier, looking towards the little magical balcony of their room and letting out a sigh.

"Are you worried?” Honeymaren asked, leaving her brush on her bedside table and taking Elsa's to do the same.

"No, it's not that... Well, maybe a little, but I know that worrying now won't help and that getting a good night's rest will be crucial for tomorrow," the girl said, turning to her partner. "So for today, let's pretend it's a normal night. Yes?” Elsa added, stealing a quick kiss on Honeymaren's lips, putting on the purple sleeping dress the Northuldra girl liked so much and then putting aside the sheets, instructing her girlfriend to get into bed.

The young sorceress surrendered with a smile to the indication of her beloved, put on her nightgown and positioned herself as usual so that Elsa could fit on her chest and intertwine her legs with hers, ready to rest comfortably with the help of the calm and satisfaction that the union of their bodies made them feel.

Once comfortable Elsa yawned as Honeymaren caressed her hair.

"Sleep well Honey." Elsa said, rubbing herself slightly on Honeymaren's chest to fall asleep.

"Sweet Dreams Snowflake." Honeymaren said, and almost at the same time both girls fell asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

When Honeymaren woke up the second day she could notice that Elsa was already awake, sitting on the bed staring at her, transmitting a soft feeling of affection, but also a little bit of fear.

"What is it, honey? Could you sleep well?" Honeymaren asked, crawling a little on the bed so she could rest her head on her lover's lap.

"Yes, I'm just a little nervous about what will happen this afternoon ... I don't want anything to happen to you." Elsa said, playing with her girlfriend's hair.

"If something happened to you, my life would no longer be the same," Honeymaren said, hugging the young Queen by the waist and not moving her head much to avoid pretending that the comment affected her; She was worried too, but she was trying decisively to prevent negative thoughts from dominating her mind. “But you don't have to worry, we have each other, we will get through this together.”

"You're right." Elsa said, then Honeymaren sat up on the bed, slid her partner's sleeping gown down slightly, and began to massage her upper back with both hands in smooth, steady circular motions, trying to untie the knots the tension could have caused her.

“Oh thank you…” Elsa said, allowing herself to relax a little.

A few minutes passed like that as the young Northuldra felt the Snow Queen give way more and more to the calming touch of her hands.

"Do you feel a little better?" Asked the young brunette.

"Very... thanks Honey."

“It was a pleasure; now come on, we need to get ready.” Honeymaren said with a sympathetic look and caressed Elsa's shoulder with her hand.

"Okay." Elsa said, getting up from the bed and taking her partner by the hand.

"I don't think it's time to practice anymore." Elsa said as she changed her night outfit into her normal wardrobe.

"I think the same, I think that only ... it only remains to wait, and dominate our minds." Honeymaren said, changing her clothing too.

Both girls left their room after finishing dressing, stopping in front of the large window to observe the mist that surrounded the valley, the magical protection by the spirits seemed to remain in place and it was a cloudy and rainy morning, with the sky darkened by the deep gray of the clouds.

"How do you feel about that?" Elsa asked, seeing that the young Northuldra was surrounding with her hand the powerful relic that had recently been entrusted to her, the Eye of Agamotto, which hung on her chest.

"It is something... complicated to describe." Honeymaren said, making the necessary movements with her hands to open the Eye, that showed a powerful and mystical green glow when revealing its interior. “This relic is, like others, unique in its class, its existence is a constant in a large number of universes and its power varies according to the universe to which it belongs,” Honeymaren said, concentrated in the green glow that was reflected on the window. “However, as The Ancient One said, in some exceptional universes it can channel the power of several adjacent universes and we live in one of those,” added the young woman as she put her right hand on her left forearm, conjuring around a pair of green colored mystical rings, one with a uniform pattern and one closer to her wrist with various symbols visible along its entire length as it spun in a live motion. “This relic has power over time,” she said after finishing those rings and then repeated the gesture on her right forearm and on this two similar rings appeared turning around themselves, one with the same uniform pattern and another closer to her wrist with symbols clearly different from those that could be seen in its left equivalent, “and it also has power over light, white magic at will… this is more power than anyone should have.” Added Honeymaren as the energy rings surrounded her two Forearms and the glow of the Eye of Agamotto seemed to intensify, ready to make use of unimaginable power.

"That is why only whoever carries the title of Sorcerer Supreme should be able to use it... it is a great responsibility." Said The Ancient One, who was approaching from the opposite corridor to theirs. Hearing those words Honeymaren quickly closed the Eye of Agamotto, although hse knew that there was no way to pretend that she had not been using it before The Ancient One.

"Ancient One..." Honeymaren said, trying to hide her exaltation as best as possible and making a small bow that Elsa imitated and to which The Ancient One responded in the same way.

"Don't worry, my time giving you orders is over... it's time to say goodbye. And I must say that seeing that you could control the ambivalent power of the Eye of Agamotto in that way is a really reassuring thing.”

"Say goodbye? I know you couldn't fight Null or stay long, but... I hoped that you could at least observe the outcome of the conflict." said Elsa slightly exalted.

"That's right... I hoped that at least you would be here during it, not to intervene... maybe just to be able to say... we did it." Said Honeymaren, a little more exalted than her partner.

Null tried to pass the spirit barrier over the valley with a surprising amount of brute force, and came close to achieving it during the night. I'm afraid it's strengthened faster than I reckoned it would and it would have taken you by surprise if I hadn't given part of my power to the spirits to contain it; I find myself exhausted... Plus, there's something you need to know...” The Ancient One said and immediately after she disappeared.

"Where did she go?” Asked Elsa.

"I don't know, but she’s around, I can still feel her." Honeymaren said.

Both girls began to see everywhere in search of their teacher and Elsa was about to walk down the stairs to get down when she saw that Honeymaren was calmly standing in the same place.

"What's going on, Honey?” Elsa asked walking towards her.

The Northuldra girl looked at her with some sadness in her eyes, took her by the hand and guided her to both sit on the floor.

"What's going on?” The Snow Queen asked when Honeymaren gently touched her chest and then the two were in their spiritual form, to her surprise The Ancient One was there, right in the same place she was before abruptly breaking her speech.

"I'm sorry I didn't teach you how to use this form during my stay here Elsa, but being part spirit yourself teaching you to control it safely would have taken time I didn't have... I know that Honeymaren will be able to do it in the future, for now it's better for her to serve as a mediator.

"Ancient One!? But where's your body?”

"The truth is that I've never had it, not in this dimension, the physical form with which you had interacted was a strong magical projection and nothing else.”

"That's why we rarely saw her outside of training. She wasn't asleep or resting or reading... she returned to her spiritual form to expend less energy." Honeymaren said somewhat sad, as if she said it so she could finish explaining herself what was going on.

"That's right... you've proven yourself to be an exceptional student Honeymaren; now, when much of my energy has left me I am unable to maintain that projection any longer.”

"But I don't understand, you talked about traveling through the multiverse with the sling rings, through the portals that you could both create... why didn’t you... ‘really came’?” Elsa asked.

"I'm afraid my body is currently incapacitated in my own dimension.

"You’re dying… isn’t it?” Honeymaren said... The Ancient One just turned to see her and smiled before those words, not a happy smile... but a melancholic one, one perhaps, during which she thought of how much she was going to miss her stay there.

"I didn't know your intuition had become so good young lady, or maybe...” The Ancient One paused for a moment and gestured with her hands above Honeymaren's chest, revealing The Eye of Agamotto, open and bathing her in its light. “An illusion, you keep surprising me, I couldn't feel that you were using it." The Ancient One said, calmly. “So you've also mastered its spiritual form.”

"That's right..." Honeymaren said, trying to hide her sadness.

"I leave this universe in good hands..." The Ancient One said, smiling. “Now that the Eye has revealed to you the truth about me there’s no use hiding it, I am about to die yes... and I will leave two of my best apprentices alone for their great first battle that will define the future of their dimension... " said The Ancient One, as if repressing herself, and then she levitated towards the great window of the sanctuary.

"It's not your fault." The young Northuldra said, levitating next to The Ancient One.

"I'm sure you’ve done the best you could," Elsa said, levitating to the other side of her teacher.

“I've seen many possible futures in my universe, I know that most likely everything will end well... I can leave peacefully because of that.”

The two girls just kept quiet, watching through the window like their teacher.

"Do you wonder what I see in your future?” Ancestral asked, looking at her sides; both young women nodded slightly. “I never saw your future, only your possibilities. You have a great capacity to help, to make you world a better place, protect it from endless threats*.

"I don't feel ready." Honeymaren said.

"No one is... we are not allowed to choose our time." Ancestral said calmly, seeing the young woman's face soften a little.

A few seconds passed in silence and Ancestral took the hands of the young women, seeing how the rain was falling on the valley... a moment later only the young couple continued levitating in front of the window; accompanied only by the sound of the drops against the glass, disturbing the deep silence.

“We must save our world." Honeymaren said a few minutes later, when both returned to their physical bodies.

“We will." Elsa said calmly, resting her head on Honeymaren's shoulder.

As the two young women took a moment to deal with what had just happened The Cloak of Levitation gently wiped their tears.

“It's time." Honeymaren said, rising shortly after and helping her girlfriend do the same.

“We are going to take the fight to it instead of waiting for it to come to us, aren't we?” Elsa asked, standing beside her beloved.

“Yes, we are… now, let's go over what we know about Null," said Honeymaren as she walked to the door of the room where the accident with the portals happened.

Elsa knew Honeymaren was hurt by The Ancient One’s departure, she could feel that her girlfriend was channeling her feelings through cheer determination to fight and defeat Null, but she decided not to mention it, she didn’t want to compromise the young sorcerer’s resolve.

“Is there anything we haven't seen here?” Elsa asked as she walked through the door.

“One thing, one I didn’t understand the first time, and that I regret didn’t realizing until now." Said Honeymaren across the room, ignoring all the relics until she entered the room where she took the Eye of Agamotto, once there she touched the large base of rock in the center and projected a great quantity of magic upon it, bathing the room in a constant orange glow, until all the magic seemed to be spontaneously absorbed by the structure, leaving the room in absolute darkness. Suddenly the accumulated magic broke free in magical explosion, the radiant energy quickly went through the floor, along the walls and up to the ceiling of the place, where a huge projection of planet earth magically appeared.

“The Orb of Agamotto... Ancestral projected some of it magic into the window allowing us to see whatever she channeled through it, but this is the real artefact... this chamber, with the ability to show whatever we wish to see of our world and beyond." Honeymaren said as she walked around the room looking at the wonderful vision above them.

“It's incredible..." said Elsa, amazed to see that the magical spectacle responded to the movements of Honeymaren's hands, showing them the forest and then going into the darkness that was home to Null, the being who was now putting their universe at risk.

“We know that Null has great power in his physical and spiritual form." Honeymaren said, as the roof of the place projected a dark cloud, from which occasionally enormous arms full of suction cups, like those of a squid could be seen, of a color as dark as the fog that hid the creature who owned them.

“The books say that it is capable of flight, becoming intangible, teleportation, and creating portals... something difficult to believe for a beast of that size." Said Elsa as he watched the multiple, enormous arms of that creature charging at the barrier which the spirits bravely held around the valley.

“It can move objects by telekinesis, speak telepathically, change form, project energy, create illusions and possess other beings at will." Added Honeymaren as the two continued to watch the morbid image.

“Is it possible to finish it off completely?” Elsa asked.

“I doubt it." Honeymaren said thoughtfully, with one arm crossed to hold her other elbow and a hand on her chin. “Although if we were to completely destroy its physical form, what would be tremendously difficult already, its spiritual form would remain, and being a primarily spiritual creature it would eventually create another physical form... Ancestral defeated it and kept it locked up in its own dimensional prison*, inside the mirror dimension, but it managed to escape during a moment of fragility in its prison, most likely because it had regained all its strength and was expecting any opportunity that might arise to escape... still, I think locking it up is the best option, that will hold it for a while surely; we don't know how long Ancestral kept it locked up after all, but I have a feeling that it was a very considerable period of time, that's why it didn't consider facing her again, but rather decided to run away to another dimension.

“It probably feared her, and by extension hated any sorcerer who might get in its way, that's why it wants to finish us off and the Sanctuary as soon as possible.” Said Elsa, as she realized what should be done.

“That's right...”

“So we defeat it and lock it up in the mirror dimension, we have a plan, saying it is infinitively easier than doing it, but it’s a plan." Said Elsa, walking to Honeymaren’s side.

"I saw some rituals for mystical prisons, I think I know what's right for Null, we just need to weaken it enough that It can't put great resistance during the spell, once locked up I'll send it to a remote corner of the mirror dimension and our universe will be safe.

"Sounds good... we must be cautious for the plan to work." Elsa said, thoughtful.

"Everything will be fine, we have each other, we have to stay together and we’ll be able to handle anything that Null throws in our path." Honeymaren said, putting her hand on Elsa's shoulder. 

"I know, it’s just that… I don't want it to play with my mind again… I've trained to strengthen myself, but what if it wasn't enough?” Elsa asked, clearly worried about that possibility. 

"I know it’ll be enough, but I also know that feeling safe is extremely important." Honeymaren said, reaching something in her pocket. "So I took the liberty of doing something for you." The young woman continued as she showed her girlfriend a small box of dark wood like chocolate that she had with her, and then, as Elsa's face started to show emotion, she opened it.

"That's is...! Is...!”

Inside the small wooden box and on a small cushion of soft and bright blue fabric rested a beautiful silver ring delicately stylized with an engraved pattern of magical symbols on its outline and a top embellished with the Northuldra symbols for the elements, forming a snowflake, in whose center a beautiful and round blue gemstone, of a glow that Elsa had never seen, represented the fifth spirit; the same girl who was now standing there, astonished by the beauty of the ring. 

"It's... Beautiful!” Elsa said, really stunned at the surprise.

"Elsa, would you send this malevolent creature back into the darkness from which it came out… with me?”

"Of course I will Honey!” Elsa said excitedly, then Honeymaren took the ring and Elsa extended her hand for it to be put on the middle finger of her right hand.

"Thank you so much, it's very beautiful!” Elsa said, happily seeing the ring on her hand and then impulsively hugging Honeymaren, who hugged her back tightly.

"Thank you, it was my first time making a ring." The Northuldra girl said as they hugged.

A few seconds later the girls separated, the face of both reflecting great happiness for what had just happened, or perhaps more, by the symbolism that the act had.

"It's a relic in itself, it will not only protect you mentally and spiritually against everything Null can try against you, but it will also further strengthen your magic against its, with your training and this relic it will find a formidable adversary in your magic.

"Thank you Honey, this makes me feel more... safe, with what we're going to do." Elsa said, holding Honeymaren's hand.

"I'm glad, that's just what I wanted to hear.”

Elsa pulled Honeymaren's hand slightly to bring her closer, her glances met and the young Northuldra immediately understood what was going on, gently approaching her face through the few centimeters that separated her from the lips of her beloved and then give her little kiss, as if she were asking permission, or perhaps to play with the wish she knew existed in her girlfriend, who in response took the initiative to catch the young sorcerer in a romantic kiss.

"I think... it’s time." Honeymaren said a few minutes later, when the romance of that kiss had already completely burned.

—Yes... I think it is... we don't have any pending thing to do here? Elsa asked, knowing that when they left the sanctuary they would not be able to return until Null was defeated.

"I don't think so... is there anything you remember?

"Just something... don’t all relics usually have a name?

"You're right," Honeymaren said, taking Elsa's right hand, “I decided to call this one ‘Frozen Heart’."

"Oh! Beautiful... Is there any particular reason?” Elsa asked, blushing.

"It's how you made me feel the night I met you, watching you make project magic from your hands..." Honeymaren said, trying not to give in to the embarrassment that confession gave her.

"Aww." Elsa said, kissing the young woman on the cheek. And now you're better than me at it." She added.

"No, of course not, you were born with magic, I just... I try to do the best I can. Honeymaren said.

"And you do it amazingly..." Elsa said, looking into her girlfriend's eyes.

"Thank you..." Honeymaren said, matching her gaze.

"I suppose we're ready." Elsa said, turning her eyes towards the exit of the Orb's room.

"That's right." Honeymaren said next to her girlfriend, as they started walking towards the door.

"Oh, just let me go put this little box in our room, I don't want to lose it." Elsa said as they walked, Honeymaren nodded and both left the relic room.

"I'll wait for you here..." Honeymaren said at the entrance of the corridor that led to the rooms.

"Alright, I'll be back in a minute." Elsa said, heading to their room.

While Honeymaren waited the cloak gave her slight pulls, as if asking her to go to the room as well.

"No, this is not the time." she said.

 _If I go back there with her... I'll start thinking about the beautiful daily things I might miss if something goes wrong_. She thought.

When Elsa entered the room she couldn't help taking a look, she really thought everything would be okay, but she couldn't deny that there was a little fear within her.

"Calm down, everything will be fine." Elsa said to himself, opening her bedside table drawer and leaving the little box that Honeymaren made to deliver her ring there.

"One day... I'll put a ring on your finger too." The Snow Queen thought when she saw the box in her drawer, and then closed it to return to the side of the one that made her feel such beautiful desires.


	21. Chapter 21

Back in the center of the sanctuary Elsa offered her hand to Honeymaren, thinking of going down the stairs together, Honeymaren gestured as if she was going to take it and then evaded it and took Elsa in his arms.

"Wow! This is unexpected, what do you have in mind?” Elsa asked and then the cloak began with her part of the maneuver, lifting them from the floor to slowly descend through the large center of the sanctuary.

Throughout the descent the gaze of both girls was fixed in the eyes of the other, perhaps because of the magical vibe of the situation, or to evade the slight fear of heights that Elsa occasionally felt, what is certain is that it was a memorable romantic moment.

Honeymaren left Elsa on the floor once downstairs and both continued on their way to the door holding hands, once there Elsa took one handle, Honeymaren the other and it was together that they opened the door, crossed and closed it behind them, standing once again in that cave that was so engraved in their memories.

"It's better to hide it again, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious," Honeymaren said, and then casted a quick spell on the door, making it look like the natural end of the cave again, a magic she never imagined she would be able to do when she first passed through it.

Both girls went out to the lake, passing by their small makeshift house, feeling it as a far memory after spending months in the sanctuary, and strangely being able to stop to see how the flowers nearby to open once everything began had barely bloomed, thanks to the time magic of The Ancient One.

"It's unbelievable, isn't it?” Elsa said, kneeling before the flowers as Honeymaren still saw the home they had built together.

"She really did it… it’s amazing that she managed to stretch the time thia much... I hope I'll be able to do something like this someday." The young sorcerer said.

"I know you will." Elsa said, rising, and then she froze a long bridge across the lake in the center of their little valley.

The girls walked over the lake holding hands, without saying another word, their minds were strong, but maintaining a perfect composure as they approached a being like Null would be inhumane. Nerves were an essential part of their survival instinct and courage was what kept them advancing step by step, without thinking of stopping and returning to the safety of the sanctuary.

"Can you call it? Honeymaren asked Elsa, waiting for her to call Gale to instruct the spirits to lift the barrier, letting Null through.

Both knew that their valley would suffer great damage if they fought there, but the forest was home to all the Northuldra, a couple's small love nest could not be compared in importance.

"Sure." Elsa replied, and then she chanted that call, so similar to the one used by her mother with the same spirit, so much like the one she heard when she was called to Ahtohallan.

Gale approached quickly, circulating happily and making cheerful sounds around both girls, as if it were surprised and happy by their progress in such a short time.

"We're also glad to see you Gale, but now we need you to help us." Elsa said.

"The time has come for us to face it, please ask the rest of the spirits to stop the barrier, let it pass.”

Gale was dubious at first, but surprisingly the Cloak of Levitation left Honey for a moment and rose slightly to the level of the small accumulation of floating leaves that Gale used to make its presence known. The Cloak moved, the small wind sphere shuddered, the cloak kept moving and making strange poses as if it were explaining something, the sound of the fabric moving quickly alternating with the sound of the leaves and Gale's sharp "voice". Just a moment passed for the cloak to be back on Honeymaren shoulders and for Gale to show a new attitude, more convinced of the girls' plan.

"Thank you, you've done enough, we'll take care of the rest." The young women said when Gale agreed and went to talk to the rest of the spirits.

"Remember, I have spells that will consume its energy making it vulnerable, your magic will do the same, if you can freeze some part of it that ice will drain its energy thanks to the ring, and even if it can break it the effort will be so high that it will wear it down considerably." Honeymaren said once they saw the fog begin to disappear.

"Alright." Elsa said, putting herself in combat pose as she began to distinguish the peak from the mountains surrounding the valley.

The last of the fog hadn’t lifted yet when a great dark cloud began to take its place, descending over the valley and encircling it, and as it advanced, multiple arms of the dark being began to settle over the mountain, more and more until the great mass that was its body appeared, upright and elongated with an aspect similar to that of a great squid that remained standing with the help of some limbs while others remained up, ready to attack, and in what seemed to be the lower part of its head dozens of bright red eyes of multiple sizes concentrated on the young women now in front of him. If the legendary Kraken had appeared to them its appearance would surely be as terrifying as the creature standing in front of them now.

Both sides stared for a moment, that enormous being, ready to descend quickly from that mountain that it made look like a small mound; the pair of defiant young women, with magic beginning to flow from their limbs, not taking a step back from the terrifying appearance of their opponent. In an instant, a spot beneath the eyes of the beast opened, revealing a huge mouth filled with multiple lines of teeth and launching a menacing roar that echoed throughout the valley, thus declaring the beginning of the confrontation.

Honeymaren flew swiftly and Elsa followed close behind, gliding over the ice, both going towards the rampant beast that was moving rapidly with the help of all its long limbs; the young girls would attack in different ways, but they would never be so far apart that any of them could be isolated from the combat.

When it was in the correct range multiple whips of brilliant magical energy illuminated the dark scene that the forest had become due to Null's magic, entangling themselves in several of its tentacles, tying them together and then anchoring themselves to the earth, hindering the movement of the beast.

A roar signaled the creature's annoyance as it felt its magical energy being stolen by the spell and used against it, and suddenly multiple tentacles lifted into the air going for the Northuldra girl, frustrated at the agility that her alliance with the Levitation Cloak provided.

“Keep them that way!” -Shouted Elsa, sliding under the tentacles the moved erratically through the air and freezing them on the spot, leaving them like great towers of ice over the trees.

Honeymaren didn’t waste the opportunity, throwing rapid pulses of energy against the frozen arms of the beast, blowing them up into small fragments of ice. Null let out a furious roar and then everything became pitch dark, its darkness concentrated in such a way that it was impossible for the girls to see their own hands.

“Elsa!” Honeymaren shouted, recognizing the danger of the situation.

“I'm over here!” Elsa was heard shouting not far from where the Northuldra girl was levitating. The young brunette quickly began to fly towards the voice, only to be stopped abruptly by the cloak, which then ascended frantically; Honeymaren soon understood, that voice was not Elsa's, Null was trying to take advantage of her fear and now dozens of tentacles were swirling around her, trying to lock her up.

“Keep evading them, I'll make this quick." Honeymaren said, trusting her safety momentarily to the Cloak as she nimbly made the movements to open The Eye of Agamotto; only seconds later the mystical green light of the relic illuminated the young woman's surroundings, letting her see clearly how the dark arms were pressing against her one after another, so that the Cloak could barely keep up.

 _Show me the truth_ , thought Honeymaren as she concentrated on having the Eye and its light shine over Null's dark magic, and so it did, the glow of the Eye quickly spread through the forest, illuminating a path a great dome of ice that was brutally rammed by multiple arms of the beast, cracking and then being repaired from within; the Snow Queen held her ground before Null, but she couldn’t do it forever.

“Let’s go!” Exclaimed Honeymaren, and at that command the cloak moved swiftly to the dome, opening a portal right in the ice through which it passed in a fraction of a second and closed behind it.

“Honey!” Elsa exclaimed, happy to see her, but quickly concentrating again on maintaining the dome.

“You're doing amazing!” Said Honeymaren, reinforcing the dome with a magical shield of her own creation.

“Thank you, Null has been faster than I thought for something that size, but its dark magic has not weakened us, beyond the fact that it prefers to hide, we are on equal footing." Said Elsa, still strengthening the dome, but calmer than before.

Suddenly the ice floor of the dome began to crack and before they could react a large arm of the beast came out from below, destroying the structure. Honeymaren took Elsa in her arms and the cloak carried them into the air, again chased by more limbs.

"I can make a magic cannon." Honeymaren said, as the young women evaded attacks in the air, aided by the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto that dissipated Null's darkness a few meters around them.

"What?”

“Several spell rings, of gradually different sizes and perfectly aligned, spinning on themselves at specific rhythms can enhance any magic that enters the larger end and turn it into a high-impact magic projectile, but for that to work we need to be able to see Null.”

Honeymaren concentrated and made a small magic platform on which she descended and then created a cube around it, protecting them against Null. Soon the young woman began with the magical movements, generating both pairs of mystical rings of green color around her forearms, then made several circular movements, appearing several magical symbols that floated and moved vividly in front of her and the shimmering green light of the Eye of Agamotto and then compacting them all over a small green dot that she blew up, magically disappearing the darkness of Null and keeping it at the edge of the valley. The great creature moved its imposing, surprised figure to see what had happened, and while the anger could be distinguished in its eyes it disappeared from view again, creating illusions to camouflage itself with the forest.

"It's unbelievable, you did it, you got rid of its darkness!”

"The Eye does it for me, Null won’t like it, after this it knows it's in danger and will become more erratic, you have to be careful." Honeymaren said, then took Elsa in her arms and undone the energy cube, flying back between Null's arms, when unexpectedly, bright red discs began to fly toward them, highly concentrated magic projectiles that would do a lot of damage if they touched any of them.

"He's about to attack us with everything it has!” Honeymaren said, struggling next to the Cloak to evade the attacks of the being and in a joint effort flew at a high speed, managing to take at least sixty seconds out of Null's range.

"We don’t have much time." Honeymaren said, leaving Elsa on the floor and thinking, when just seconds later small dark portals opened up after behind the couple, and a few smaller arms went out through them, taking them off guard by their ankles, and dragging them into a larger portal that they opened as they dragged them; Honeymaren's enchanted fabric bands she had on her legs and feet unleashed their hidden power in an explosive reaction that severely damaged the arms, causing them to release her, Elsa flipped over her back and froze those who took her, causing them to break because of the very inertia of the undulating movement they had. After that those portals were closed, but soon more began to open.

"I'll make a tower, freeze its exterior!” Honeymaren said and suddenly a large rock tower began to rise under the girl’s feet; Elsa did her part, freezing its exterior and making it difficult for Null's arms to hold on to it.

"Spikes! Honeymaren shouted as the tower continued to grow and Null's arms were trying to wrap around it by the bunch, only to be pierced by sharp ice spikes that Elsa grew around the tower, earning what they expected to be at least a few seconds off.

"It seems to work!” Elsa said, with a slight tone of relief in her voice.

—The portals... they are a separate problem." Honeymaren said, seeing dark portals form over them, with more Null arms coming out of them faster than the tower grew.

Honeymaren conjured some magically loaded gems in her hands, throwing them into the portals to blow them up, cutting off some of the creature's arms and preventing others from appearing while concentrating on continuing to grow the tower through the feeling her feet gave her.

"We're getting very high, we'll run out of air if we keep going like this." Elsa said.

"You're right, can you make a slide as soon as you see an opportunity? Honeymaren asked.

"Aren't you worried that we'll fall right into one of its portals?

"I can feel your magic, I will protect our path and open one of my portals if necessary.”

"All right, get ready!” Elsa replied, looking for an opportunity.


	22. Chapter 22

The confrontation between the demonic beast and the young couple continued; at a certain point when all the Null portals just exploded and others were just about to appear Elsa saw the opening that she needed and created a slide for both young women to slide, Honeymaren taking Elsa by the waist and the latter creating the next part of the slide as they fell; Null's tentacles rushed towards the structure, but were unable to close themselves on it by the protective magic that Honeymaren had put around thanks to the Eye of Agamotto.

"I'll try to make elongated, circular shapes, we can buy time to think before touching the floor!” Elsa yelled.

"Perfect idea!” Honeymaren shouted in response.

A few seconds passed as the young women glided to the floor on long shapes to gain as much time as possible, when Honeymaren had a new idea.

"Elsa, take us back to the tower!”

"Are you sure? didn't we just leave it because it was dangerous?

"Yes, but now I know what to do, I have a plan.”

"Understood!” Elsa said determinedly, as she was fully confident in her partner.

After a long turn to take momentum Elsa created a diagonal exit that would throw them through the air towards the tower.

"Ready!?” Elsa asked.

"Yes! Honeymaren shouted as the cloak nodded with the ends of the neck and soon the young women were shot to the air, Honeymaren took Elsa firmly as she started flying and in a few seconds they were back on the tower they had just left.

"Here they come again." Honeymaren said, watching the beast's tentacles trying to wrap around the structure.

"It knows about the thorns, it has probably used magic to harden its outer layer, you'll have to use more magic to hurt it." Honeymaren said.

"Don't worry, I will, how will you take care of the portals?” Elsa said, as she began to create sharp spikes around the tower, which damaged and infuriated Null.

"You'll see." Honeymaren said, rising in the air as they started appearing and then projecting a large number of images of herself. soon Null's dark arms began to appear through all the portals, which now surrounded the tower, but each of Honeymaren's mirror copies possessed magic and as soon as the arms came out they opened another portal in front of Null's to get them into it and get out where she wanted, diverting them at will; soon the portals made by Honeymaren were dozens, and Null's arms, having fallen entirely by the young sorcerer's strategy, had become entangled in a huge knot in the air, floating between all the portals.

"Freeze them!” Honeymaren shouted at Elsa, who kept slowing the arms that were approaching from the ground, and as soon as he realized the situation she launched a large freezing blast, taking care of all the arms trapped in the area.

"Ready!”

"Cover yourself!”

Just after Elsa created an ice dome around the tip of the tower Honeymaren projected a powerful beam that completely obliterated Null's large mass of arms, reducing them to tiny chunks of ice.

The roar of pain and fury resonated along the valley, the whole place began to tremble and in the absence of the portals Honeymaren made the copies of herself she had conjured disappear and returned to the top of the tower next to Elsa.

"Its arms also retreated from the tower, it must be planning something else." Elsa said, trying to observe her surroundings well in search for some surprise attack.

"That's right, we need to be alert," Honeymaren said, standing back to back with Elsa so that they could both cover more space.

A little time passed and suddenly the young women felt the dark magic of Null acting over the valley again.

"There! More portals!” Elsa yelled.

Just as the Snow Queen had noticed dozens of portals had appeared along the forest, near and far from the girls alike, and suddenly, grotesque humanoid-looking creatures began to emerge by bunches throughout the portals. Their walk was erratic and their appearance disconcerting; their body seemed to be covered in dirty and wounded skin in addition to some rags, remnants of what was once some kind of clothing, where their faces should be there was only one mouth and over that a large shiny sphere, as if they were cyclopes and that great eye contained energy.

"What are those things?”

"Corrupted beings, whoever they were once is no more, they have been transformed by the dark magic and power of the dimension that bears the same name, they are known as mindless ones." Honeymaren said earnestly.

"Are they dangerous?”

"They have great energy they can shoot from that kind of eye they have on their face, as well as greater strength and durability than the average human... the most dangerous thing about this horde is its size, I can't tell any exceptionally strong individual but we can't allow them to surround us.

"Do they serve Null?” Elsa asked as she watched how they approached the tower decisively, roaring, screaming, wailing in sharp screams that made ears hurt and souls ache as they conveyed absolute suffering and agony shrouded in tremendous despair.

"They lack much intelligence or desires; Null must be controlling them to do its bidding." Honeymaren said as she watched how they came from all directions.

"We must stop them, I can feel the dark energy emanating, we don’t know the damage they could do." Elsa said as she began to freeze the surroundings of the tower and lift more thorns that would hinder the passage of the agonizing beings.

"I agree." Said Honeymaren, who was throwing pulses of energy with her hands that destroyed those they touched.

The beings, lacking reasoning, impaled themselves in the ice spikes during their frantic desire to approach the tower and as others begin to advance above the fallen the defenses of Elsa became less effective. Honeymaren gathered a great deal of energy in her hands and then freed it in the form of powerful lighting that was jumped from one target to another, vaporizing them in a long chain of flashes, but even that had little effect in the face of the large number of those empty creatures that were approaching vigorously. Elsa left the spikes technique to build large ice walls around the tower, but this measure would be temporary, as, stacking against the walls, the dark beings formed a kind of platform by which others could climb higher and higher.

"This is bad, but it's still a distraction, what's Null doing?” Elsa asked as she created spikes around the wall in addition to small protruding blocks trying to slow down the speed with which beings were stacking and could begin to climb.

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon." Honeymaren replied, conjuring strong winds and magical beams to slow the horde's advance.

Suddenly, in the middle of the lake, the great image of Null could be seen again, standing imposing with its multiple arms spreading and moving menacingly as its multiple eyes, shining in red, showed a huge rage directed at the young couple.

"There it is." Honeymaren shouted

“What is it up to?” Elsa added.

Both girls looked at that being as a huge portal opened in the sky above it and suddenly, some of its tentacles, wrapped in the shape of a sphere, opened slowly to show the young couple a large sphere of pulsating and unstable magical energy within which both could perceive the spirits of the forest, even the rock giants that had been shrunken, all of them imprisoned and weakened by Null's dark energy. Soon after that the limbs of the demon closed again on the sphere to hide it behind the mass of arms it still had, and then the limbs on which it stood bent slightly to take momentum and then lifted it in flight, heading towards the portal that it had opened in the sky and beginning to cross it quickly due to its large size.

"No, we must do something!” Elsa said, nervous and a little more erratic in her defense, allowing more mindless beings to accumulate against the wall, climbing frantically.

"Don't worry, it can't take them, its portal can't take it out of the closed field created by the Eye of Agamotto." Honeymaren said, conjuring some gems and throwing them around the tower and a little further, generating tremendous energy explosions that cleared a radius of at least a few hundred meters around them.

"I know that look... I'm not going to like what you're about to tell me... and you know it!” Elsa said, holding Honeymaren by the arms as Null’s figure disappeared completely in the portal.

"I kept those gems in case something like this happened and I had to buy time to say goodbye in addition to giving you a chance to prepare your defense.”

"No, no, you're not going alone!” Elsa said, creating ice shackles around the left wrists of both.

"There is no other way," Honeymaren said, taking Elsa's hands. “Null knows that its portal can't get it out of here, it just takes it to a small pocket dimension where it has the advantage, it's clearly a trap.

"And how can you go to the trap so resolutely?!”

"I have no choice, I must save the spirits of the forest, and you know it.”

"Yes... you're right ..." Elsa said distressed. “But I can't allow it, I... I can't..."added the young woman, nervous, conflicted to know that Honeymaren really had to do it. “We can go both, face it together, I can create an ice barrier around the valley that these creatures will take time to break, and we'll be back before they hurt anyone,.” Elsa said, with a look that vivaciously asked Honeymaren to allow her to go with her.

—Null could control the time inside that place, as The Ancient One did with the sanctuary, if it's accelerated and at our return days, weeks have passed... the creatures will surely have finished with the forest and Arendelle; it's a risk we can't take... one must stay.” Honeymaren said, with a comprehensive look that affectionately encouraged Elsa to understand what should be done.

The Snow Queen, processing the words of her girlfriend, resisted the urge to break into tears and just hugged her, making the shackles disappear.

"Promise me you're going to come back." Elsa said, in a broken voice that made Honeymaren feel a chill down her back.

"I promise ..." The young Northuldra said softly, whispering into her girlfriend's ear.

As the couple hugged the Levitation Cloak hugged them too, wrapping herself around them and then detaching herself from the young sorceresr, flying swiftly towards the sanctuary.

“What is she doing?” Elsa asked, slightly separating from Honeymaren as she watched the cloak enter a portal, surely created by her partner.

"She’s just going for something we'll need, don't worry." Honeymaren said, hugging Elsa again, gently but firmly.

In less than a minute the cloak returned and settled back on Honeymaren's back, who quickly adjusted a small cloth bag that she had handed to her belt.

"It is time." Honeymaren said softly, releasing her girlfriend. "Those beings are coming, you must protect yourself and stay safe until I return; You must promise me too.” Added the young woman, Elsa's hands intertwined with hers.

“I promise.”

The young Northuldra only smiled and the cloak began to take flight as some of the mindless beings could already be seen and heard nearby.

"Hey!" Elsa shouted as the cloak began to turn toward the lake, the young sorceresr turning towards the tower upon hearing the voice of her partner.

Time seemed to pass a little slower when the gazes of the two girls met at that moment, not because of the mystical influence of the Eye of Agamotto, but because they both knew what should happen now.

“I love you.”

Hearing those beautiful words, Honeymaren landed again on the tower, gently but firmly taking Elsa by the nape of the neck, running her fingers through her hair and when their faces were a couple of centimeters apart ...

“I love you too.”

With those words the young women intertwined in a deep kiss, soft, pleasant, intimate, passionate, and set aflame by a spark of adrenaline that ended up instilling a sensation like no other they had before in their lives.

As their lips parted, their eyes finished saying everything they wanted to express, the cloak began to rise and the girls broke their gaze, concentrating fully again on the objective before them.

When Honeymaren was under the gloomy portal, she turned to look back at the tower, around which Elsa had already built an entire ice fortress, rival even to Arendelle's castle, and ready to face the mindless ones hordes that were heading towards her. When seeing that scene the cloak made some gestures with the neck.

"I know... she'll be fine." Honeymaren said, and then both of them decisively crossed the portal.


	23. Chapter 23

Inside that portal everything seemed strange, just as The Ancient One had explained to them "the senses of a human being take time to adapt to things that don't obey their reality", and that place, even more than an interdimensional space was a pocket dimension created by Null, the darkness predominated, the red tones gave a little bit of brightness to the place and sudden flashes of light appeared from nowhere occasionally, the place seemed really hostile to any being that didn't belong to that darkness. Honeymaren continued to advance down a huge corridor that she had appeared after crossing, imposing in its size, no doubt so that Null could walk through it, and composed of some strange matter that the young sorcerer found unfamiliar.

“Perhaps it is composed of matter that Null itself created to suit its desires," said Honeymaren as she felt that The Cloak of Levitation seemed to wonder the same thing as they flew even faster down that barren corridor.

A few minutes passed and the corridor gradually became narrower as they went along, causing the young woman anxiety. She only accelerated more hoping to find the exit, not wanting to give time to the thought that perhaps the walls were closing in on her. Suddenly, as she went around a bend, an open area could be made seen at the end of the rest of the tunnel; the young woman got there as fast as she could and found herself in a large chamber, a huge and impressive place where several corridors like the one the she had just left seemed to connect.

“Stay alert, this must be where Null wanted us to go." The Northuldra girl said to The Cloak of Levitation as they slowly approached the center of that chamber, and once there she levitated, looking at all the entrances, wondering what she should do now. Suddenly a hole began to open in the floor of the chamber and from there the great sphere of energy in which Null had imprisoned the spirits began to emerge.

“There they are!” Said Honeymaren flying alongside it, but being careful not to touch the floor. When the spirits saw her approach they went into a frenzy. “What is it?” Asked Honeymaren, who didn’t have time to react to the surprise that awaited her.

One moment the young sorcerer was trying to dissolve the sphere which was imprisoning the spirits, and the next moment she felt trapped and squeezed tightly throughout her body; it didn't take long for her to understand what was happening, Null had complete control over the place, it was even easier to completely hide its presence in that dimension.

 _It was expectable_ , thought the young woman, having understood the simplicity of the trap that Null had thought for her.

Soon the dark and large limb that imprisoned her became visible, together with the enormous being to which it belonged, its elongated figure stretching almost to the ceiling of the chamber and its arms extending across much of the width of the chamber; it was a vision that would be horrifying for the great majority of beings, but Honeymaren was prepared for it.

“You’ve been a fool to come here, but I knew you would." Said an unnaturally deep and heavy, vibrating, ominous voice which made some fibers of the girl’s body vibrate at every word.

“You are finished... I only came for the spirits." Honeymaren said, struggling. Hearing those words, Null pressed her even harder.

“Stupid ignorant... every second I spend in this place my power is consolidated again." Said Null, while Honeymaren could see that the multiple limbs that they had destroyed to the dark being during the combat were beginning to regenerate.

Honeymaren began to feel the pressure on her body, she had to act soon; before Null trapped her she had begun to engrave on the prison sphere a symbol that only required energy to activate itself and free the spirits, but she was trapped at that moment and had to keep the attention of that monstrous being so that it wouldn’t decipher her plan and reinforce the prison.

“You could have killed me already, tell me what you are looking for." Asked the young sorcerer as she struggled.

“I want to be free, and even if I finish with you it will take me a long time to pass through the barrier that that relic has over the valley," the demon creature said heavily. "I will free the spirits only if you make it disappear, otherwise they will be reduced to little more than spiritual energy which I will consume to speed up the process.”

“And when you are free you will end my world, won't you?”

Honeymaren struggled to keep Null talking as her feet, free as her head from Null's grip, drew several magical circles in the air below her, aligned with each other, pointing to the energy sphere that imprisoned the spirits. She would only have one shot before Null realized her plan, but if she succeeded the energy received would activate the spell she engraved in the prison, dissolving it and releasing the spirits instantly.

"I can leave your pathetic dimension and jump to the next one free of sorcerers, you have proven to be a nuisance in the last dimensions I've been in.”

"You say I can save myself and my dimension by letting you go, despite knowing that I would be condemning some helpless dimension.”

While Honeymaren kept speaking the magic rings were ready and loaded to shoot and the bottom of the Cloak gave small touches to the young sorcerer's ankles to tell her where to aim the little magic cannon as precisely as possible.

"You have no choice, if I kill you and the spirits I will eventually pass the barrier and your dimension will be doomed, it would be only a matter of time, and everyone, including the girl with whom you have such a strong connection, would have nothing to do but plunge into despair and see her world devoured.”

While Null was threatening Honeymaren she fired, hitting the target. By the time the prison that contained them disappeared Gale became a powerful sphere of air carrying the rest of the spirits inside; everyone asked the young woman through their spiritual connection if she needed their help, but she denied it, telling them to escape through the portal as quickly as possible and transmitting them a little more of her magical energy.

“No!” Null yelled, and without letting go of the girl, its enraged eyes went from her to the agile sphere of air, which, even closely followed by the creature's multiple arms, was able to evade them beyond its reach. If Null wanted to chase them, it would have to continue down the corridors, bringing its prey closer to the escape route.

"They're out, it's just you and me left." Honeymaren said, who in just a few seconds had already felt the spirits leave the pocket dimension, thanks to Gale's extraordinary effort and the energy that the young sorcerer and its fellow spirits had given to it.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Null, even more enraged than before. "I still have you! Now free the valley, or I will end you in a slow and agonizing way!” It said, squeezing her even more to the degree that she could feel the pressure inside her body increase dramatically.

“I don’t think so!” Honeymaren said, and with a great effort of her body and spirit she managed to open The Eye of Agamotto, even while she was immobilized.

The light from the Eye of Agamotto began burning Null, causing it to release the young sorcerer, who upon being free conjured the rings of time and white magic on her forearms, slowing down everything around her, while the multiple arms of Null, full of rage, pounced on her to crush her.

"Even time obeys my rules in this place." Null said, slowed by the power of the Eye, but effectively fighting its effect, accelerating the flow of time as the Eye continued to slow it down a bit.

At Honeymaren's call, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak came to immobilize Null in position and immediately the young sorcerer began to once again conjure magic rings aligned with each other in front of her, but this time they were large, more in number and rotating faster, and also glowing in a mystical green color, being created with the energy of the powerful relic that she carried on her chest.

"You can't destroy me, I'll create another body and I'll come back for you, your girl and your people when you least expect it!" An irate Null shouted.

"No, you won't." Honeymaren said decisively.

The young sorcerer concentrated much of the magical energy that remained in her body and her clothes in a great ray of intense orange glow that projected through the rings created by the Eye of Agamotto, a second green ray emerged intertwining with that of the girl as they passed through the first ring, and rotating in powerful harmony until they merged, they formed a powerful magic beam that shot out of the last and smallest of the rings, completely obliterating the shadowy figure that was closing on Honeymaren.

When that energetic ray pierced Null, the energy completely destroyed its physical form, causing a huge magical explosion and a quasi-instant series of explosions that simultaneously traversed each of its large number of limbs, obliterating the huge figure of the dark being in just seconds, leaving the chamber full of frantic magical shocks, fired in all directions.

"Oh no, you won’t that easy." Honeymaren said, flying as she dodged some magic shocks and then casting a big spell over the whole place, that allowed her to see Null's spiritual form going away through one of the corridors, then she threw a big magical whip behind it, containing it.

"This is for threatening my dimension!” Honeymaren said as she was pulling.

"For hurting the spirits!” She added as she gave the second pull, now holding it halfway closer.

"And this is for endangering my Elsa!” The young sorcerer said giving the strongest pull of all to immediately hold the whip nimbly with her left hand and conjure the mirror dimension in front of her with her right hand, pushing it towards Null who broke several fragments when it collided with it, fragments that Honeymaren manipulated to form a large dimensional prison of cubical form around it, engraved with powerful spells that she then threw with the magic impulse of both hands towards the regenerated dimension, sealing its confinement in it and making sure that the spell would lead that prison to hide Null in the farthest reaches of the mirror dimension, where nothing could disturb its confinement.

"You deserve it." Honeymaren said tiredly as that evil presence faded.

When Null's threat was finally neutralized its pocket dimension began to collapse, with inert chunks of matter falling everywhere and multiple black holes creating at an accelerated pace.

"This place is going to implode, we must get out of here fast!” Honeymaren said, and combining their strength she and the cloak flew as fast as they could, coming out the portal just as the spirits recently did.

Being back in the valley the young woman could see how the portal changed its size and composition erratically, implying that the implosion was near, she also could see how the fortress of Elsa was completely besieged by the mindless ones, unable to enter, but trying vigorously using every means within their reach.

"I'm going to reverse the spell that Null used to summon those creatures, without it to interfere it should work, you're faster without me, I need you to throw one of these gems through each of the portals that Null created to bring them here," Honeymaren said, standing on a magical platform she created in the air with her magic and taking the little cloth bag she had hidden behind her to empty the gems in her hand. “This will create a network in tune with an anchor gem, which I will keep, and throw into the pocket dimension when you return.”

The Cloak nodded, detaching from Honeymaren and taking the gems that she indicated, and then quickly departed to fulfill her task. When a gem was cast through a portal, the spell it carried began to consume mindless beings, attracting them powerfully as if it were a magnet, increasingly clearing their presence from the valley.

"Well, it's working." Honeymaren said, standing on the edge of the platform as she watched the portals claim by the hundreds the beings they had recently helped bring.

Less than a couple of minutes passed when the Cloak returned to Honeymaren's back after fulfilling her task, and flying again the young woman threw the anchor gem to the portal of the pocket dimension that behaved critically unstably, thus attracting all the portals to it and with them the few mindless beings that remained.

"It's too unstable, all that energy will cause an explosion after collapsing on itself, I have to stabilize it a little so that this doesn't end in a disaster." The young sorcerer said, and then she began to project a lot of the magical energy she had left in the form of long magical lighting bolts that delve into that agonizing dimension, calming it behavior a little until it finally collapsed on itself and caused a subsequent burst of energy, which thanks to the timely intervention was limited to only releasing a huge amount of flashes and magical lightning over the valley, which although impressive in sight posed no real danger.

 _It is done_ , the young sorcerer thought, closing The Eye of Agamotto and watching how the magical spectacle, so similar to fireworks, began to calm down quickly.

"Honey!”

Hearing that shout touched the heart of the brown skinned girl, and as she turned towards the origin she could see the white silhouette of her girlfriend running through the water of the lake underneath, with the wake of her usual dress following her closely and leaving a trail of small frozen footprints on the surface of the water.

"Elsa!”

Honeymaren descended quickly and both girls met in the center of the lake, welcoming each other with a romantic kiss, holding hands and letting themselves get wrapped in the magic that their bodies radiated at the thrill of feeling the touch of their lips again after saving their dimension. 


	24. Chapter 24

That night, after defeating Null, saving their universe and seeking to heal the spiritual damage that the dark being had done to the forest, the girls slept once more in the room of the house they had created, their bodies as close as possible. and filled with a happiness impossible to describe in words; being able to spend one more night with the woman they loved so deeply and sincerely, bathed in the calm of knowing as they went to sleep that they still had a future to share.

The next morning, a knock on the door woke up the young couple, who quickly dressed and went downstairs to meet those they already knew were their family and friends.

The group consisted of Anna, Kristoff, Lieutenant Mattías, Yelana and Ryder, all of them knew that something was wrong and had agreed that a smaller group would be safer in case of danger, being able to go unnoticed; They prepared properly for the journey, leaving the horses, reindeer, and Sven at the Northuldra camp and travelling what was left on foot. Each of those present was surprised when they saw the young couple come out onto the porch of the house.

“Elsa!” Anna shouted, throwing herself into her sister's arms. “Wow, you look a little more fit, and... I feel you different, how did you change so much in a few days?!” Anna asked his sister, still holding her arms.

“-It is a long story.”

"Well, I have time to listen it now that I know you're fine!" Anna said cheerfully.

"We're glad you're all right, and it wouldn't hurt to hear that story," Kristoff added with a grin and a calm countenance, also hugging her sister-in-law.

"It's a relief to see you." Lieutenant Mattias said, bowing respectfully.

“Sister!” Ryder exclaimed, hugging Honeymaren, "I love your new style, where did you get something like that? I could use a cloak," Ryder added, joking as he released the concern he had been feeling for his sister.

"We're glad you're okay." Yelana said, putting her hand on the young woman's shoulder and then the cloak hugged both of them.

"Wow! That thing moved!” Ryder shouted, and instinctively the entire group hid behind Lieutenant Mattias and Yelena, pointing their sword and staff at the ends of The Cloak of Levitation, which expanded playfully as she seemed to amuse herself with the impression she made on the new faces.

"Calm down, it won't hurt you, she's our friend." Honeymaren said.

"Wow, I'm not done getting used to magic yet." Lieutenant Mattias said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"That's why I felt great magic in you." Yelana said, lowering her staff and quickly recovering her calm countenance.

"I'm afraid that’s not the only magic in me. Ma’am." Honeymaren said, projecting a large magic circle in front of her to everyone's surprise and then making it disappear with the same ease that she conjured it.

"I think we have a lot to explain." Elsa said, taking the hand of her beloved.

"Come in, this can take a while." Honeymaren added, and everyone followed them inside.

The young women explained everything; the conflict with Null that Yelana and Ryder already knew about, the appearance of The Ancient One, their training in the sanctuary with time magically altered and how they finally defeated it, saving everything and everyone from enormous danger. The small group was amazed and then the young women set out to show them the sanctuary, meeting the spirits as they left the house, apparently recovered; Gale full of leaves and vigorous in attitude as always, Bruni just as active and playful, the Nokk in all its splendor and the group of earth giants, more or less human in size.

“Hello guys!” Elsa said as they greeted them, Gale and Nokk happily surrounded them and then the group of land giants wrapped them in a group hug.

"Thanks guys, I'm afraid the spell that was used to shrink you will gradually fade away, try to enjoy that size as you grow." Honeymaren said at the end of their hug, the giants seemed happy to be fine and to be able to grow again gradually, taking advantage of the time to do things that in their normal size they couldn’t.

The group spent some time with the spirits and then the young couple led them through the sanctuary, showing them its wonders and leaving them truly amazed.

"Are you going to live here or in your house?" Anna asked.

"It is important to know where to find you." Kristoff added.

"And it is important that you protect this place, I have a feeling that everyone's good will depend on it." Yelana added.

"Don't worry, we have the perfect solution." Elsa said, taking the hand of her beloved and ready to put into action the plan they had devised the night before.

Once the group was outside again the two young women used their magic to move the house right to the entrance of the cave, to the amazement of all, and once inside they created a new door at the back of the living room that led to the cave; Elsa froze and beautifully adorned the section of the cave as a corridor, with some Honeymaren tweaks, and the house and the sanctuary were beautifully and efficiently linked, keeping the door to the sanctuary hidden, being possible to open only thanks to the magic of one of them.

"We should have a great party!" Kristoff said, when they were all back at the edge of the lake.

“Yes! It's not every day that the world is saved from being eaten.” Anna added.

"I don't know if it's the best idea." Elsa said.

"Couldn't it frighten people to tell them about the dangers they've been exposed to?" Honeymaren said.

“It is better that they know the truth than live in fear… the missing scouts were rescued by the spirits before the being you call Null consumed them, they are recovering back in the camp, but everyone will know what happened to them… there is no better remedy for fear than the truth in a situation like this, after all Northuldra carry the relationship with magic to our roots.” Yelana said, in a wise and determined tone, Ryder nodding confidently beside her.

"And our people still have to learn more about her… so they don't repeat the past again… the rumors about the mysterious encounter some ice harvesters had have begun to spread, and with them fear." Anna said, to which Kristoff and Lieutenant Mattias nodded.

The young couple looked at each other’s eyes and then gave their answer in unison.

"Let’s do it!"

Both nations worked together and decided to set up the festivities in a long clearing of land that was approximately in the middle of the road between them, this being another symbol of their friendship and cooperation. The two groups brought the best they could during the day and the festivities began in the afternoon; there was food, drink, music, games and even dancing.

"Elsa, Honeymaren, come on! It's time to dance!" Ana said to the young couple, who was sitting against a large tree watching the people have fun.

"Oh no, no, I don't think so, I don't really know how to do it." Elsa said as she watched how people began to gather and dance to the rhythm of the growing music.

"No one here knows, we don't know the other people's dances, but it will be fun, and we'll learn more about each other!" Kristoff said.

"Come on Honey! It'll be fun! You're not usually the kind of person to avoid challenges." Ryder said, approaching the couple.

The two young women looked at each other, smiled nervously and nodded with the same doubt, not quite sure what they would do, but agreeing that together it was worth a try.

"Okay." Elsa said.

"I'll do what I can." Honeymaren said.

Despite being new to it, the young women danced, not without stepping on each other’s toes sometimes and falling because of intertwining their legs when wanting to follow the fast rhythm of the music on one occasion, or because tripping over the Cloak, which refused to be excluded from the dance fun, in another, but they enjoyed it, laughing at their mistakes, and just like them, people from both towns took with joy making mistakes when trying something completely new for them, also happy to feel that they could share their culture, and in that exchange, the Northuldra and the Arendellians, intertwined their ties more, projecting a future of union in which both would be closer and closer.

The celebration was something memorable and fun, and even spirits were a part of it. Finally, at dawn, after partying until they were exhausted, both towns collected their belongings, exchanged gifts in good faith, and went back to rest at their homes.

"Promise me that you will come to our Saturday night." Anna said before saying goodbye to the couple again before the great bonfire of the event; being her and Kristoff the last of Arendelle who waited before leaving, accompanied only by the guards, and of course, Sven and Olaf who had already fallen asleep on top of the first one.

"Of course we will." Elsa said, taken the waist with Honeymaren.

"It'll be fun." Honeymaren said, also taken with Elsa.

"Yes it will." Kristoff said, then the four of them hugged each other and Arendelle's royal couple set off in their little carriage pulled by Sven.

“Take care girls." Said Ryder, who came over to hug them.

“You too." Said his sister.

“We'll see you Saturday morning." Added Elsa.

Finally, Yelana came closer too, joining in the embrace despite how unaccustomed she was to them.

“I am very proud of you young ladies, you have achieved more than I could ever have imagined, take care of yourselves and know that our nations are ready to help you in whatever you need." The Northuldra leader said, being interesting that she took Arendelle already as brothers to her people, in spite of all the difficulties they had gone through, but knowing that in the Kingdom they felt just the same.

“We will do so." Elsa said.

“And don't worry, we're counting on you." Honeymaren added.

Yelana and Ryder nodded and then mounted their reindeer, starting their way back as well.

“Well, I think it's time to go home.” Honeymaren said.

“That's right.” Said Elsa, and with her icy touch she extinguished the fire which had brought light and warmth to their evening. Then Honeymaren took her by the hand and with a quick gesture opened a portal back to the sanctuary through which the two passed together. The young women appeared in front of the huge window, which to their surprise was slightly fogged and a message could be clearly read in a cursive letter apparently written in a delicate way with the finger.

"I knew you would make it."

Both young women felt a chill of surprise and happiness when they read that.

“She's not here, is she?” Asked Elsa, unable to perceive the energy of their teacher.

“No, I can't feel her... maybe she left a spell ready to congratulate us when Null's presence could no longer be detected." Honeymaren said, touching the window, a gesture imitated by her girlfriend and The Cloak of Levitation.

“I wish we could see her one more time." Elsa said.

“Maybe we will, I can't be sure how that message got there, maybe she was here after all." Said Honeymaren hopefully.

“Yes, you're right." Said Elsa, sharing that hope.

A brief moment of silence passed as the young women kept their eyes on those words written on the glass.

“We did it." The Snow Queen said, as if she still didn’t fully believe what had happened.

“Yes, we really did." Said the Sorcerer, bringing her body persuasively closer to that of her girlfriend.

The lips of the young couple met intimately and passionately once more before that magical window that would witness countless times the love they had for each other. With so many possible futures it was uncertain what destiny held for them, or what threats might arise, but one thing was certain, that dimension now had someone to face them; a powerful Snow Queen and a great Sorcerer... a Sorcerer Supreme. 


End file.
